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China Expected to Continue Development in Disputed Asian Sea despite US
Sanctions

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI - U.S. curbs against Chinese officials and companies suspected
   of helping Beijing extend its reach in a disputed, resource-rich Asian
   sea will do little to reduce China's maritime influence and could
   indirectly increase it, analysts believe.

   The government of outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday
   announced a ban on travel to the United States by officials in the
   military, the ruling Communist Party and major state-owned enterprises.
   Washington believes they have used coerciononcountries with claims to
   the 3.5 million-square-kilometerSouth China Sea.

   In December the U.S. government placed 60 Chinese companies, including
   offshore oil giant CNOOC, on a trade blacklist that stops them from
   receivingcertain typesof Americantechnology. Last week Washington
   barred American investors from holding shares in nine Chinese firmswith
   suspected tiesto ThePeople's Liberation Army, including the world's
   third biggest smartphone developer,Xiaomi.

   These penalties,along with others that the Trumpadministrationhas used
   to stop Chinese maritime activities,will hardly dislodge Beijing from
   the disputed sea, scholars say. They say the targeted people and
   companies can keep drilling for oil, supplying the military and
   building infrastructure in the tropical waterway.

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