India, Sept. 13 -- In 2022 a container ship named Dortmund Express left a Chinese port for the United States. On board were three containers of electronics made by Hikvision, a company on the American entity list. The operator, Ocean Network Express, declined to deliver them. That was prudent under American law. Hikvision sued in the Shanghai Maritime Court under China's Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law of 2021. The court found the refusal "discriminatory" and ordered the carrier to pay Rmb 4.99 million with interest. In June 2026 the Supreme People's Court praised the judgment and said it should "inject momentum" into similar cases.

That single ship carries the whole story. A rule written in Washington and a rule written in Beijing now reach ...