John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, speaks in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1 after the creation of a new initiative to crack down on Chinese intelligence officials pilfering intellectual property from U.S. corporations. New measures against China, however, are only likely to strengthen Beijing's resolve to acquire technology by any means possible.
The last Opium War ended 176 years ago, but Beijing remembers the battle well — particularly the West's penchant for gunboat diplomacy. Memories of Western coercion and blockades have already prompted China to bolster the country's navy and take aggressive steps in the South China Sea to fulfill two of its overriding strategic imperatives : prevent any encroachment on the eastern coast and secure maritime trade routes. Beijing, however, is now preparing to respond to another type of blockade. Late last month, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it was adding Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. to the list of entities facing restrictions, essentially declaring that the firm poses a significant risk to U.S. national security or foreign policy. A December 2017 indictment accused the firm of illegally obtaining trade secrets for the production of DRAM chips from U.S. company Micron.
