If we are to summarize the characteristics of China's countermeasures against the unreasonable sanctions imposed by the United States in recent years, it is that China does not give the United States any face: if the United States wants trouble, then China will respond with equivalent measures.

Not long ago, on the 10th, our Ministry of Transport issued a "Notice on Charging Special Port Dues for American Vessels", announcing that it will charge "special port dues" to vessels from the United States entering Chinese ports, at a standard ranging from 400 yuan to 1120 yuan per ton.

Announcement from the Ministry of Transport

China's charging of fees for American ships aims to respond to the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, which, under the guise of the "Section 301 investigation," announced on April this year that it would impose so-called "port service fees" on Chinese vessels entering U.S. ports from October 14th.

The Chinese announcement clearly stated that the U.S. move seriously violates international trade principles and the Sino-U.S. maritime agreement, causing serious damage to Sino-U.S. maritime trade.

Naturally, some may raise a question: The U.S. shipbuilding industry has been shrinking for many years, and now only has shipyards responsible for building and repairing warships. Meanwhile, China currently has more ships sailing around the world and ships made in China than the U.S. Is China still at a disadvantage by imposing equivalent charges?

This view is also a way used by the U.S. side to downplay the impact of China's countermeasures. For example, the U.S. shipping consulting firm "Marine Analysis" claimed that the largest ocean-going shipping company in the U.S., "Matson Navigation," only has seven ships that stop at Chinese ports. Even if other U.S. shipping companies are included, the number of U.S. ships frequently entering Chinese ports will not exceed 24. Therefore, the U.S. shipping companies "expect not to be affected by China's countermeasures."

Cruise ships are also American vessels

However, this argument is actually a sophistry. The statement from the Ministry of Transport in China is very clear, stating that the scope of the charge covers not only vessels owned or operated by U.S. enterprises, organizations, and individuals, but also vessels under companies that have a direct or indirect equity stake of 25% or more, as well as vessels flying the U.S. flag and built in the United States.

Similarly, the definition of "vessels" is not limited to container ships, but also includes liquefied natural gas carriers, oil tankers for long-distance transport, refrigerated ships, and even luxury sightseeing cruise ships, etc.

Therefore, if we were to count U.S.-owned shipping or shipbuilding companies and their vessels, the range would be quite large.

American can't take advantage of South Korean shipyards

For example, a report released in January this year pointed out that the United States remains the fourth-largest shipowner in the world, with a fleet valued at as high as 116.4 billion U.S. dollars. Especially in the cruise ship industry, the United States is still the dominant force in this field. The headquarters of two leading cruise companies in the world are located in the United States. Since 2024, the commercial value of their cruise ship fleets has increased by nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars, with a total value of about 58.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Additionally, in recent years, in an effort to revive the shipbuilding industry, the United States has invited its allies worldwide to jointly build ships, focusing on luring Japan and South Korea - therefore, ships built by U.S.-Japan and U.S.-South Korea joint ventures are obviously within the scope of the "special port dues" charged by China.

Finally, one more thing to mention. Before the U.S. charging scheme for Chinese vessels took effect, the White House Shipbuilding Office, which had once claimed to "make the U.S. shipbuilding industry great again" under Trump, had already gone empty. Not only did the head leave one after another, but the entire agency was merged into the White House Office of Management and Budget, marking the complete dissolution of the department.

The White House Shipbuilding Office has long closed down

The failure of the White House Shipbuilding Office perfectly illustrates that Trump's slogan of "making the U.S. shipbuilding industry great again" was just a gimmick: back then, the Black Sea Shipyard alone needed "the Soviet Union, the Central Committee, the State Planning Committee, the Military Industrial Committee, and nine defense ministries, 600 related specialties, and 8,000 supporting factories" to complete the "Varyag" ship.

As for the U.S. presidents represented by Trump, they only shout slogans to voters, draft bills, allocate funds, set up offices... seemingly doing a lot of things, but in reality, none of them are directly related to reviving the shipbuilding industry. The so-called "making the U.S. shipbuilding industry great again" always stays just on the lips.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559516951073112618/

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