Earlier quoted context omitted.
Naive question here: why China is able to close its market to foreign companies? Same thing for trade sanctions on Iran which impacted European companies but not China (if I'm not wrong). Seems they don't play by the same rules as anybody else.
China can control its market without serious reprisal because there aren't any serious reprisals available that are palettable. As an individual country, blocking or tarrifing imports from China isn't very effective because it hurts consumers and industry that rely on importing products and raw materials/commodities/industrial inputs from China more than it hurts China who can often export to other countries instead.…
palatable
From "palate", roof of the mouth, and by extension taste.