I think it is remarkable how the West allows a communist dictatorship like China control Western companies through coersion. I think that there would be broad support across the West and across party lines against this kind of behavior.
This is just an idea, but if, for example, China wants to punish a company for operating in Taiwan, or for not sharing their business secrets with the Chinese, we could set punishment tariffs against against all of China. With a coordinated response, we could stop China from dividing and conquering us. I think it's simply outrageous how China economically bullies companies and even whole countries for taking a stance in favor of democracy.
Moreover, I think that sanctions against China, while they might hurt us in the short run, could actually be very helpful on the long run. We could bring manufacturing and at least some jobs back to the West, while being less reliant on a communist dictatorship. I think that it would also benefit in the fight against climate change. Our greenhouse gas emissions would rise, but overall emissions would decrease when industry is forced back to the West with more stringent regulations. China isn't like Russia. We can't really set up out own oil wells to replace Russian oil, but Chinese manufacturing could easily be replaced in due time.
