Opinion: Blacklisting US tech would highlight China’s own weakness

China has been mulling what it calls an unreliable entities list since at least May last year, though little has been heard of it since then. — Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Plans by China to draw up a blacklist of US technology firms might sound great to hardliners as a retaliatory measure against Washington DC, but would most likely backfire. Pulling the trigger on such a threat could end up proving that the importance of the world’s most populous country as a global buyer may be smaller than many imagine.

Beijing has sped development of a catalog of companies it could target, yet debate remains in the halls of power over whether to release it before November’s US election, if at all, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept 22, citing officials it didn’t name. China has been mulling what it calls an unreliable entities list since at least May last year, though little has been heard of it since then.