Yesterday, NHK World Japan reported that the Communist Party of China (CPC) is freezing properties in China that belong to nine US companies.  (Beijing to freeze properties of 9 US firms in China | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News)

Two (2) observations then a doozy of a comparison:

1. The CPC spews stale reasoning that recent U.S. commitments of arms to Taiwan makes the move necessary.  The US has been providing military material to Taiwan for decades.  The CPC seeks to cast events as new so that it can control narratives and fix opinions.
2. The CPC seeks to appropriate the legitimacy of rule of law communities by saying “the countermeasures are in line with China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law.”  Again, the CPC is seeking to set opinions that the CPC uses laws just as legitimately as democratically governed countries.

The doozy.  The US companies subject to Beijing’s freeze will have no opportunity to review the CPC decision process.

This contrasts diametrically with CPC-controlled Ralls Corporation’s action in US courts about 10 years ago.  The Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the President of the United States ordered Ralls to undo agreements related to building a wind farm on land in the Pacific Northwest that overlooks US military facilities.  Ralls claimed that CFIUS violated Ralls’ constitutional right to due process.

Properly, our legal institutions allowed Ralls to take action.  Americans, however, must recognize that CPC controlled companies use US legal institutions for purposes that our courts and government do not yet appreciate or know how to address