This is more from Anthea Roberts, Henrique Choer Moraes, Victor Ferguson on geoeconomics at the Lawfare blog:
There has been much consternation (particularly in the United States) about China’s use of geoeconomic strategies, meaning the “use of economic instruments to promote and defend national interests, and to produce beneficial geopolitical results.” Commentators have accused of China employing “debt-trap diplomacy” to gain control over strategic infrastructure abroad as part of its Belt and Road Initiative; using informal sanctions to coerce its neighbors; and establishing parallel international institutions, like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to undermine existing alternatives.
Whether or not these concerns about China are justified or overstated, it is important to note that geoeconomic strategies are not new, nor is their use one-sided. The United States has long used geoeconomic strategies, such as international institution building and employing positive and negative economic sanctions, to achieve its national interests. But in recent years, the United States has changed in how it understands its national interests and how prevailing ideologies and institutional structures have combined to affect its pursuit of those interests.
