--flurben
so flurben will now be criminally responsible for life (in China)?
It will also be a problem for companies who deal with Chinese companies. If e.g. Tim Cook started talking about the nation of Taiwan, he would probably get an email from somebody with a .gov.cn address reminding him "Nice Foxconn supplier you got there, would be a shame if something happened to your contracts... wanna revise your recent statements?"
Well, that even was a problem before this announcement, but this announcement certainly will make it worse.
More like “nice market you got there, would be a shame if a PR disaster turned the whole country against you”
They don't really need the West, but the West needs them (for the forseeable future). Their markets may take a hit if push comes to shove with the West, but that's fine with them. And they have a home market with 1.7 billion customers, and many other foreign markets in Asia, Africa or South America that will still deal with them.