Sanctions and Economic Warfare in the US–China Contest: The "Renmin School" Playbook
A review of "Sanctions and Economic Warfare" by Di Dongsheng, Ji Xianbai and Wei Zilong
“Once sanctions end, the initiating country should proactively rebuild economic relations with the targeted state to mitigate any chilling effect. Such compensation and assistance not only help realise the aims of the sanctions, but also prevent the targeted country from developing sanctions immunity. This lays the groundwork for maintaining the credibility of future economic-coercion threats, sending a clear message: resistance incurs heavy costs, whereas compliance brings tangible benefits.” — “Sanctions and Economic Warfare”, by Di Dongsheng, Ji Xianbai and Wei Zilong
Recent exchanges of blows over Sino–US export controls have underscored that dominance in global trade is likely to remain the central battleground among the world’s leading powers. Against this backdrop, we review Sanctions and Economic Warfare (July 2025), a book by a group of scholars at Renmin University of China. Treating trade and economic instruments as the primary tools of statecraft in the current geopolitical…