The CPC simultaneously rejects and exploits the post-World War II economic and political order. It uses Western adherence to rules and institutions as a weapon. For the CPC, intellectual property theft is fair game, the CPC is the best player in history, and no company in the U.S. is safe. Texas is an especially high-priority target because of the outsize role it plays in energy, tech, agriculture, biomedical research and defense.
However, the opposite does not hold true. Now, foreign firms cannot ask for even the most benign business information in China. This is not theory. The Chinese government has detained and imprisoned business representatives from all over the world, including the Philippines, Australia, Singapore and Ireland. Between 2016 and 2022, the People’s Republic government has also prevented more than a hundred foreigners from leaving China.
They also rely on so-called tax violations, patent and trademark infringement, data mismanagement, civil complaints and other accusations as pretexts for arrests, detentions, raids and seizure of foreign company intellectual property. There is no law in China except the CPC; the April 27 amendment simply serves notice to foreign companies that inside China, no one, Chinese or foreign, has any rights.