Xinhua News Review: Sanctions Against Addiction and Hegemony Journalists | United States | Xinhua

Beijing, June 9th (Xinhua) - Question: Sanctions for addiction and tyranny

Xinhua News Agency reporter Fan Yu

Recently, American media warned the US government with eye-catching headlines: "Washington is sanctioning 12000 entities, and the US is harming them." As of the beginning of this year, nearly 12000 organizations and individuals worldwide have been subjected to US sanctions. Driven by the inertia of hegemonic thinking, the United States has made sanctions a common tool. But in fact, imposing sanctions on other countries not only causes losses for the United States, but also puts it in a situation of being helpless.

The United States has imposed sanctions for a long time and has numerous tools. As is well known, the United States has introduced regulations such as the Arms Export Control Act and Export Management Regulations to prevent allies from exporting related products to socialist countries. Subsequently, the United States imposed sanctions directly on specific countries, organizations, or individuals based on a series of domestic laws. The United States relies on the hegemony of the US dollar to cut off the supply and trading channels of the US dollar to other countries, restrict the channels of US dollar financing and trading, and exert pressure and sanctions on other countries; Using various trade control measures, including sanctions, import and export restrictions, and tariffs, to impose economic coercion on other countries. Implement decades of economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba; Continuously strengthening extreme pressure on countries such as North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela; Comprehensive sanctions against Russia; Issue sky high fines to HSBC and BNP Paribas in the UK for violating US sanctions regulations; Secondary sanctions have forced European companies such as Siemens and Airbus to withdraw their investments from Iran; Violations of fair trade principles, suppression and containment of Chinese enterprises... There are countless cases of direct and secondary sanctions imposed by the United States. According to data from the US Treasury Department, the number of sanctions imposed by the United States has increased by about nine times in the past 20 years, with 3800 sanctions imposed during the previous presidential term, equivalent to waving the "sanctions baton" an average of three times a day.

On May 1, 2022, Cuban people participated in the May Day International Labor Day rally and protest in Havana, opposing the US blockade of Cuba and expressing patriotic sentiments. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Wanjun

Over the past decade, sanctions have almost become the preferred tool for the United States to address diplomatic issues. The United States relies on its military and economic strength, and domestic laws have become a cover for its abuse of sanctions. Freedom, democracy, and human rights are its common excuses, while wooing and coercing other countries is its usual means. The United States also arbitrarily expands the scope of sanctions through the extraterritorial application of domestic laws, and expands the scope of sanctions to third countries that have economic and trade relations with the original target country through so-called "secondary sanctions", thereby strengthening the effectiveness of sanctions. Nobel laureate in economics and Honorary Dean of the Stanford Business School, Michael Spence, pointed out that economic sanctions are increasingly being used as diplomatic tools to achieve non economic goals, and "sanctions should not be a common occurrence.".

The indiscriminate imposition of sanctions by the United States has become a major source of risk in the world today. Since the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, the United States has intensified its sanctions, which not only aggravates the risk of global energy shortages and pushes up world food prices, but also further destroys the fragile supply chain of the global industrial chain under the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, causing a drag on the world economy. Professor Daniel Drezner of Tufts University in the United States pointed out in an article published in Foreign Affairs that successive US governments have "abused economic coercion and violence" by using sanctions as the preferred solution to diplomatic problems, which not only fails to work, but also causes humanitarian disasters.

This is a photo taken on April 20, 2021 at the White House in Washington, USA. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie

As a truly sanctioned superpower, the United States indiscriminately imposes sanctions that seriously damage the sovereignty and security of other countries, seriously affect their national economy and people's livelihoods, seriously violate market economy principles and international economic and trade rules, and also harm its own interests. A study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics suggests that between 1970 and 1997, unilateral sanctions by the United States only achieved their goals in 13% of cases, but caused annual losses of $15 billion to $19 billion to the US economy. Former White House official and founding director of the Global Energy Policy Center at Columbia University, Jason Bordoff, said that excessive use of sanctions would be counterproductive, prompting trading partners to seek alternative allies or the US banking system and the US dollar. The blind arrogance of the United States has harmed itself and made its allies increasingly dissatisfied. The French newspaper Echo pointed out that the "boomerang" of sanctions against Russia accurately targets the West, and the backlash effect of sanctions has caused heavy losses to European countries.

The world today cannot be easily influenced by the hegemonic will of the United States. Resolving disputes through dialogue and resolving differences through consultation is the right path. Raising the "sanction stick" at the slightest disagreement is precisely a lack of wisdom. As stated in an article published by Newsweek, the United States needs to reconsider its sanctions policy on how to communicate in a more rational and effective way.