CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ THE ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TOWARD INTERNATIONAL LAW China’s modernization is irreversible, and its drive to great power status is not negotiable. China has invested heavily in modernizing its military, especially its naval fleet, and more recently its missile silo program; its economy is the fasting growing in the world; and because of the sheer size of its domestic market, China can use granting access to its market as leverage to extract concessions from foreign investors and nations. China has one of the largest cash reserves in the world that can be used to win favorable terms of trade from other nations and to influence their voting preferences in international institutions. President Biden inherited a chaotic foreign policy left behind by theTrump administration. Trump’s incompetence, coupled with his very shallow view of international affairs, destroyed the US Government’s foreign affairs establishment. Many experienced diplomats and foreign policy experts left the government because their services were not considered valuable. Trump did not listen to the experts, and he acted on instinct instead of sound advice and judgment. His behavior was erratic and unpredictable, his thoughts were poorly articulated, and his decisions haphazardly executed. Trump left his successor no roadmap, which most outgoing administrations do. This left Biden with a lot of cleaning up to do before his administration could even begin to formulate a policy toward China. Biden took a tough stand on China during the campaign, and he has continued much of Trump’s hardline on China policy. Biden kept all the Trump tariffs on China, and in fact, expanded on some of them, including the listing of additional Chinese companies, which bans them from doing business with the US government and forbids Americans from investing in these companies. Trump’s foreign policy was transactional and personal. It was what was in it for Trump, his family, and his business. Trump did not have a China policy, and he accomplished nothing during his four years in office. As Trump focused on his “America First” foreign policy, Beijing became a more assertive regional player; its economy expanded, and its global reach became more expansive. Relations between Trump and Xi Jinping got off to a good start. Trump visited Beijing within months of taking office and was given a very lavish welcome. He immediately declared Xi Jinping a “friend.” In his first few months in office Trump’s daughter and “senior advisor,” Ivanka Trump, received approval for several patents in China for her fashion brand. However, the relationship betweenTrump and Xi gradually deteriorated, as Trump sought market access for American-made goods and began greater scrutiny of Chinese tech companies seeking to invest in the United States. Trump’s unilateral tariffs on Chinese imports further infuriated the Chinese government. Sino-US relations never recovered during Trump’s tenure. During his final days in office, Trump imposed stricter control on Chinese tech companies seeking to do business with the US Government. Trump also signed the Holding Foreign Companies Act in December 2020, which calls for the delisting of Chinese companies from the US Stock Exchange if they do not cooperate with audit oversight in three years. That law forced three Chinese telecom companies to pull out of the US stock market. 141 Trump declared Beijing’s treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province genocide and crimes against humanity. 142 Trump also imposed an import ban on cotton from Xinjiang Province, which President Biden has retained. 143 President Biden has also kept in place many of Trump’s tariffs on other Chinese imports, and in some cases has expanded on these tariffs. 141 FRIED, J. Trump’s Attempt to Delist China will only Backfire, Fin. Times , (Jan. 14, 2021), p. 11. 142 WONG, E., BUCKLEY, Ch. US Says China’s Repression of Uighurs in ‘Genocide ,’ at https://nytimes.com/2021/01/19/ us/politics/trump-china-xinjiang.html. 143 U.S. Custom and Border Protection Press release, CBP Issues Detention Order on Cotton Products Made by

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