The UK has introduced new sanctions aimed against Chinese interference, but their bark is far worse than their bite, writes Robert Dalling
Recently we saw sanctions hitting the headlines again with the UK government announcing asset freezes in response to cyber attacks in 2021 and 2022, for which the government holds China responsible.
Although the government’s choice of this foreign policy response has been reported as the UK imposing sanctions “on China”, in reality this is not an action at state-to-state level in the same way as, for example, the expulsion of diplomats.
In terms of real-world impact, the response is relatively mild and driven by largely political motivations. Only two individuals and a single company have been added to a lengthy list of targets whose assets are frozen. The effect is to hit the pause button on their financial transactions – their UK-based assets, ranging from bank accounts to properties, are frozen temporarily, but........