Lenin famously declared that “the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”
Export controls are intended to prevent that unhappy outcome, as well as frustrate other bad actors who hope to commit misdeeds with someone else’s hardware. To that end, Japan has been at the forefront of efforts to promote export controls among Southeast Asia nations to help them better prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Those projects differ considerably from the export controls that China announced this week. Those measures target Japan and are intended to thwart the development of its military capabilities. Moreover, those restrictions cover a wide, albeit undefined, range of goods and could potentially cover almost all trade with Japan.
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