Historical Parallels: The CCP's Longstanding Practice of Undermining U.S. Sanctions

 

Executive Summary:

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to assist sanctioned regimes—including Russia, Iran, and North Korea—in circumventing U.S. and international sanctions. This is not a recent development. Historical records from the Second World War reveal that the CCP had previously engaged in covert cooperation with Imperial Japanese forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), facilitating material exchanges that effectively undermined American strategic objectives in the Asia-Pacific theater.

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Key Findings:

1. Contemporary Pattern of Sanctions Evasion:

   • The CCP continues to facilitate sanctions evasion by Russia (particularly after the 2022 Ukraine invasion), Iran (through energy trade and financial intermediaries), and North Korea (via dual-use technology transfers and maritime smuggling).

   • These acts systematically undermine U.S. and allied efforts to maintain global norms through targeted sanctions regimes.

2. Historical Precedent: CCP–Japanese Military Collaboration:

   • Declassified Chinese sources, including a July 24, 1947 article in the Current Events Bulletin (时事公报), reveal that the CCP entered into a secret agreement with Japanese commander Yasuji Okamura in 1941:

     “The Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army agreed to jointly attack Nationalist forces… the Japanese side would supply the CCP with ten small arms factories in exchange.”

   • In December 1940, New Fourth Army units reportedly procured 20,000 jin of cotton on behalf of Japanese forces in Huai’an, in exchange for substantial quantities of ammunition. The Japanese forces then declared a formal non-aggression stance toward CCP positions.

   • Archival records from the Taiwanese Academia Historica corroborate these exchanges, suggesting long-term mutual accommodation between CCP guerrillas and Japanese troops at the expense of China’s central war effort and Allied coordination.

3. Violation of Allied Strategy and U.S. Policy:

   • These clandestine CCP-Japanese transactions occurred despite the U.S. embargo on exports to Japan enacted in July 1940, which included restrictions on strategic materials such as oil, rubber, and industrial goods.

   • The CCP’s cooperation with Imperial Japan constituted a violation of the Allied strategic aims, and arguably assisted the Japanese military in resisting Allied advances—particularly those involving American and Nationalist Chinese forces.

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Conclusion:

The CCP’s current global behavior in aiding aggressor regimes mirrors its wartime conduct during World War II. Then and now, the Party has demonstrated a readiness to cooperate with hostile powers for strategic advantage—even at the cost of international law, wartime alliances, and human suffering.

This continuity of behavior should inform the policy assumptions of the United States and its allies when crafting sanctions enforcement, counter-intelligence operations, and alliance security frameworks in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.