Demystifying China’s Sanctions Behaviour

Abstract

Chapter 7 examines which of the five competing hypotheses as detailed in Chapters 2 and 3 best explains China’s puzzling sanctions behaviour. It finds that China’s longstanding rhetoric against the use of unilateral sanctions had resulted in China not being able to openly threaten or admit to the use of such economic tools in its pursuit of political goals. China’s use of unilateral sanctions under the period of examination (if at all present) was therefore ambiguous and unofficial, targeted at narrowly specific sectors, and limited in scope. Furthermore, China found itself having to withdraw or further reduce the extent of sanctions when other parties used rhetorical action such as shaming or flattery to draw international attention to China’s behaviour.