Co-Director Zack Cooper and Oriana Skylar Mastro write that the Biden administration needs to rethink the entire nature of alliances for an era of heavy-handed economic diplomacy from Beijing.
Australia’s trials are not the first time Beijing has used economic coercion against another country.
It has become so common that we are becoming desensitised to it. Some notable examples include Beijing’s limitations on rare earth exports to Japan in 2010, Norwegian fish exports in 2010, Philippine tropic fruit exports in 2012, Vietnam’s tourist industry in 2014, Mongolian commodities trade in 2016, and South Korean businesses in 2017. In each case, Beijing sought to achieve a political objective by imposing economic penalties.
