US considers China sanctions to deter Taiwan action
- Taipei is lobbying the EU to do the same, as military tensions escalate in the region, insiders say
- The deliberations are said to be at an early stage, and the idea is to take sanctions beyond existing measures to restrict some trade and Chinese investment
The United States is considering options for a sanctions package against mainland China to deter it from invading Taiwan, with the European Union coming under diplomatic pressure from Taipei to do the same, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The sources said the deliberations in Washington and Taipei’s separate lobbying of EU envoys were both at an early stage – a response to fears of a mainland Chinese invasion that have grown as military tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait.
In both cases, the idea is to take sanctions beyond measures already taken in the West to restrict some trade and investment with China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and telecoms equipment.
The sources did not provide any details of what is being considered but the notion of sanctions on the world’s second-largest economy and one of the global supply chain’s biggest links raises questions of feasibility.
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“The potential imposition of sanctions on China is a far more complex exercise than sanctions on Russia, given US and allies’ extensive entanglement with the Chinese economy,” said Nazak Nikakhtar, a former senior US Commerce Department official.