According to a report by the U.S. "Defense Blog" on October 19, China announced sanctions against five affiliated companies of Hanwha Group in the United States, including Hanwha Philadelphia Shipyard, with multiple subsidiaries listed on the prohibited transaction list, prohibiting Chinese companies from conducting any business with them.

Lee Jong-kyeong, Director of the Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), admitted during a parliamentary hearing that although China's sanctions have not yet caused direct losses, they will definitely have an substantial impact on the South Korea-U.S. collaboration project MASGA.

MASGA, or the "Make America's Shipbuilding Great Again Plan," was a transnational cooperation framework promoted by Trump to make up for the shortcomings in domestic shipbuilding capabilities. Hanwha, as one of the core partners, has clearly been subjected to Chinese countermeasures due to its involvement in the containment strategy against China.

From the effect, China's sanction measures have been effective immediately, with Hanwha's stock price plummeting sharply, and South Korean senior officials urgently assessing loss risks.

South Korean legislator Yoo Yong-won pointed out that the losses could exceed $60 million.

Hanwha helping the U.S. shipbuilding

It should be noted that this incident is far more than just a corporate sanction.

From a strategic perspective, China's move targets not just ordinary enterprises, but external allied companies directly involved in the U.S. defense supply chain. The implications are not only economic interests, but also the industrial foundation of the U.S.-South Korea military cooperation system.

Hanwha Ocean is one of South Korea's largest warship builders, with its U.S. subsidiaries undertaking a large amount of core operations, including shipbuilding, maintenance, and module assembly.

The MASGA project itself is an important tool for the U.S. to address its own insufficient shipbuilding capacity and enhance the pace of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region.

China's precise sanctions have already cast a shadow over this cooperation model.

In the long run, this may lead to a decrease in enthusiasm of Korean companies for U.S. defense projects, and even possibly prompt South Korea to reassess the cost-benefit ratio of military cooperation when facing pressure from both China and the U.S.

For the U.S., it means that its alliance manufacturing model is beginning to expose systemic risks: key components, key nodes, and key services are outsourced to other countries, yet they cannot avoid sanctions.

This highly dependent model on non-domestic allied industry capabilities, once dismantled one by one by China, will significantly affect the U.S. Navy's fleet expansion plan, maintenance schedule, and even the layout of logistics capabilities.

In extreme cases, it could disrupt the entire Indo-Pacific strategy, becoming a structural weakness in the U.S. global deployment system.

MASGA hat

From China's own perspective, this sanction is entirely reasonable, legitimate, and justified.

The Hanwha U.S. subsidiaries involved in the sanctions have repeatedly participated in U.S. corporate investigations, suspected of assisting the U.S. in restricting China's development in areas such as shipbuilding and military construction, which is no longer a purely commercial activity, but rather an actual participation in the anti-China strategy as an agent node.

In international common principles, any sovereign country has the right to retaliate against external actions that threaten its national security and undermine its development interests, especially when the other party implements unilateral sanctions through economic coercion and industrial isolation. China's equivalent response is completely reasonable and appropriate.

More importantly, China has repeatedly stated its opposition to decoupling and cutting off chains, and has also warned that normal international commercial cooperation should not be weaponized.

When Hanwha, knowing the relevant risks, still deeply participates in the U.S.-led anti-China plans, it naturally has to bear the corresponding responsibilities and consequences.

This sanction is based on China's "Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law" and the national security legal framework, with an open and transparent process and proper procedures, reflecting the most basic defensive posture of a sovereign state against external interference and infiltration.

Chinese and South Korean flags

China's position has never been to force other countries to take sides. China has always advocated open cooperation and welcomes any country to conduct normal cooperation under the basis of basic rules.

But neutrality cannot just be words; it cannot be pretending to be neutral while actually cooperating with one side to suppress another.

Enterprises like Hanwha, who want to enjoy the benefits brought by China's vast market, but then turn around and cooperate with the U.S. to contain China, assist the U.S. in setting limits and containing China in the shipbuilding chain—such behavior is a typical example of eating at the table and breaking the pot at the same time.

China's current sanctions are not to block South Korean companies exclusively, but to clearly draw a red line: you cannot make money in China while providing assistance to another country's containment of China.

If one does not have a clear political stance and lacks the minimum level of mutual trust in cooperation, then such market cooperation would be better left without.

China's demands are not excessive; it simply hopes that international enterprises can respect the consequences of their actions, and cannot be both participants and destroyers.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7563219803008287270/

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