The U.S., after only a few days following its public announcement of sanctions on ZTE, has backed down. It has already said it will lift sanctions against the company after the Chinese government complained, even though it was clear that ZTE and other Chinese companies were actively involved in setting up front companies to skirt US export controls to Iran. These countries were acting under the umbrella of the central government and with its tacit agreement.
The language used in the government statements is similar to that used ind the Iran nuclear deal: we will trust that you will comply with the agreement, and we will verify. Sanctions will "snap back" in the event they don't work. If you believe any of that, hold up your hand.
This agreement was obviously done by the same State Department that did the Iran nuclear deal. The whole mess is an admission that the US either will not, or cannot do anything about enforcing sanctions. Whichever it is, the situation only gets worse by the minute.
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