Global Times editor, Hu Xijin, tweets
"US crackdown on Chinese companies including Huawei is no longer like a trade war. The US is shifting from protecting its interests to destroying China. It increasingly resembles air striking Chinese high-tech companies. China is mulling qualitative change in countermeasures."
For now, we'll have to wait and see how China will choose to react. But if this is the perception that is starting to be built on the ground and if it is the type of thinking that Chinese officials are growing to believe, this won't end well and things will only get much worse from here before they do get any better.
As for what qualitative change means, it's likely referring to the fact that China will probably change up its laws or tighten certain regulations (such as the rare earth minerals issue) to fight back against the US.
