A woman wearing a face mask walks past the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C., the United States, May 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

 
The US is reportedly cooking up a new list targeting 20 companies with accusations that they are backed by the Chinese military. As insane and ignorant as this is, this groundless move will foolishly damage American commerce and industry, Chinese experts said.

The Trump administration has listed 20 companies that are allegedly owned or controlled by Chinese military, including China’s tech giant Huawei and Hikvision, according to a report from Reuters. The list may pave the way for US President Donald Trump’s further crackdown on Chinese companies amid his reelection campaign.

If the list is true, it will entrap American firms, industries and its own financial system, Mei Xinyu, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under China's Ministry of Commerce, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“Though it is obvious that some extremists in the US Defense Department are eager to confront China by all means necessary… they should have [their minds] tested in hospitals as they are making decisions that will backfire and damage themselves,” Mei said.

Nearly all the listed companies are industry leaders that attract cooperation from firms across the world. Some even offer products which cannot be substituted. This makes the US’ absurd moves hinder the development of its own industries, Mei noted, stressing further that if the US intends to make up financial sanctions based on the reported list, it will force countries and regions to step away from dollar settlements. 

Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times that the US crackdown is threatening Chinese high-tech firms with technological or market advantages.

Naming the 20 Chinese firms as military-related companies will allow the Trump administration to launch sanctions whenever it wants to, Lü said.

It is not a new trick, and more politicized and cooked-up “lists” seem to be facilitating the US’ presidential election this year, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing who closely follows the China-US trade conflict, told the Global Times.

Also, the Trump administration has been ramping up efforts to ship the spotlight of its domestic issues by heating up its conflict with China. This is being done in a bid to relieve pressure and divert American citizens’ attention, Gao said.

The US has been leading COVID-19 infection numbers in the world for some period of time. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US has over 2.38 million confirmed cases out of the world total of 9.4 million cases as of Thursday. Meanwhile, the country has seen an unprecedented scale of protests for over a month fighting against racial discrimination.

Under such circumstance, it is not surprising news that the US is trying to crack down on Chinese firms with new phantom allegations, according to Gao.

In terms of Chinese firms, the degree of harm that might be done to them would be quite limited, both experts said.

Both Huawei and Hikvision have been included on an American blacklist already. After a few years of a trivial Trump trade war, China has clearly showed its capacity to counter attacks. It will therefore strike back with more precise and targeted counter measures without hurting its own business environment, experts said.

With an unstable America, it is evident to the world that China is a more reliable supplier with a strong trade clearing system, Mei added.