The U.S. has blacklisted China’s largest shipping line, Cosco Shipping Holdings, and two major shipbuilders over alleged links to the Chinese military. The move discourages US firms from dealing with these companies and signals increased scrutiny of China’s dominant maritime sector, as reported by Weilun Soon and Yongchang Chin of Bloomberg. This comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China, with Donald Trump’s return to the White House expected. They write:
The US has blacklisted China’s largest shipping line and two shipbuilders over alleged links with the People’s Liberation Army, as Washington turns its attention to the country’s massive maritime sector.
Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. was named in a Federal Register filing on Tuesday, qualifying it as a Chinese military company as determined by the Pentagon, along with China State Shipbuilding Corp. and China Shipbuilding Trading Co. While the blacklist carries no specific penalties, it discourages US firms from dealing with those companies.
It also signals increased scrutiny of marine transport and shipbuilding as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House. China has the world’s largest shipbuilding sector, producing more than half of merchant vessels globally, while the US industry has virtually collapsed over the last generation.
Chinese shipbuilders accounted for almost 60% of the worldwide orderbook in the first quarter of last year, according to shipbroker BRS. […]
Cnooc, meanwhile, has two onshore shale oil and gas projects in the US, two deepwater projects and interests in several other exploration blocks in the US Gulf of Mexico, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Rising tensions with Washington could cause the company to reassess its ownership of those assets, it said in a note late last month.
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Also read, China’s Shipbuilding Goes After LNG Tankers, U.S. Has Fallen Far Behind in Shipbuilding, and U.S. vs. China: China Has Over Two Hundred Times the Ship Building Compacity.
