Hitting China back for this predatory air travel policy is the right strategy. But the U.S. counter is tiny in comparison to what needs to be done, starting with trillions of dollars in compensation for losses from COVID-19 and intellectual property theft by China that reaches as much as $600 billion annually against the United States.
U.S. cancellation of four Chinese flights, in response to the same from China, only serves to clarify the paucity of America’s defenses against the much bigger harms done by the Chinese Communist Party.
United Airlines, which complied with preflight checks and inflight protocols, couldn’t have known in advance that five of its San Francisco passengers on July 21 would allegedly test positive for COVID-19 after their arrival in Shanghai. Neither would United be able to confirm that the infections occurred before or after the passengers arrived in China.
The positive tests in China allegedly occurred on the same day as the flight, serving as the spurious justification for the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to impose restrictions on Aug. 6 against future United flights to China.
On Aug. 18, the DOT limited four U.S.-China flights, one from each of four Chinese companies, to 40 percent capacity. The limits will begin against Air China on Aug. 23, then proceed over the following month to China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines Company, and Xiamen Airlines.
The DOT said China’s “circuit breaker” policy violated the countries’ air services agreement, which allows 100 flights between the countries per week, and “places undue culpability on carriers with respect to travelers that test positive for COVID-19 after their arrival in China.” The department reasonably noted that “As carriers are following all relevant Chinese regulations with respect to pre-departure and in-flight protocols, they should not be penalized as a result of travelers later testing positive.” It added that carriers “have no means to independently verify positive test results alleged by Chinese authorities. Furthermore, there is no way to establish where or when a traveler may have contracted” COVID-19.
United Airlines responded to the U.S. sanctions by saying that it was “pleased to see this action by the [DOT] in pursuit of fairness in this important market.”
The United States increased its commitment to “reciprocity” against predatory Chinese trade practices during President Trump’s term in office. In June 2020, the Trump administration responded to Beijing’s failure to immediately agree to a restoration of U.S. flights, for example, by threatening to bar Chinese flights.
The Biden administration is right to impose reciprocal sanctions on China, but such pinpricks will not fix the main forms of economic predation practiced by the country, and do nothing to address China’s economic predation against other countries. The United States must get much tougher against China’s predatory economic practices, or expect to continue America’s economic decline relative to its totalitarian adversary.
