Washington sanctioned dozens of Chinese companies on Thursday, including for supporting Beijing’s surveillance of ethnic minorities and for facilitating Iran’s energy trade in violation of US restrictions.
The US State Department designated two China-based firms – Global Marine Ship Management and Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping – as “Iran sanction evaders” and accused them of “knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the transport of petrochemical products from Iran”.
The companies’ US-based assets are essentially frozen, and Americans are barred from dealing with the sanctioned firms. The US identified six tankers linked to Shanghai Xuanrun as “blocked property”.
Anyone conducting transactions that involve the companies and their identified vessels risks exposure to US sanctions, the State Department said.
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The US also sanctioned an Vietnam-based company, a United Arab Emirates-based firm, two Iran-based entities and 14 other linked ships.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will issue licences to allow for the winding down of certain vessels through June 30, the statement said.
“This is the latest of numerous actions taken by the United States against sanctions evaders around the world. We will continue to enforce our sanctions against Iran,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Twenty-eight other Chinese firms were also sanctioned in a separate action by the Commerce Department.
They included the Chinese genetics companies BGI Research, BGI Tech Solutions (Hong Kong) and Forensic Genomics International, according to the document of the Bureau of Industry and Security at the department.
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“The addition of these entities is based upon information that indicates their collection and analysis of genetic data poses a significant risk of contributing to monitoring and surveillance by the government of China, which has been utilised in the repression of ethnic minorities in China,” the document said.
Information also indicates that the three companies “present a significant risk of diversion to China’s military programs”, according to the agency.
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Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur was also added to the list “for acquiring and attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of the China’s military modernisation efforts”.
Nine other entities from Belarus, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia and Taiwan were added to the list on different grounds.
In November, the US imposed sanctions on 13 companies in mainland China, Hong Kong and the UAE that it says helped sell “hundreds of millions of dollars” of Iranian oil and petroleum products to buyers in East Asia. Before that, Washington hit another two Chinese firms on similar grounds.
The latest move comes after Beijing and Tehran appeared to forge stronger bonds during Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to China two weeks ago.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Iran, the countries announced in a joint statement. They also signed as many as 20 cooperation documents, including on trade, agriculture and industry as well as renewable energy and infrastructure.
The new sanctions come as US President Joe Biden’s administration stepped up warnings that it will “not hesitate” to punish Chinese companies or individuals when they violate American sanctions or aid the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
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“Were China to engage in material lethal support for Russia’s aggression or were it to engage in the systematic evasion of sanctions to help Russia, that would be a serious problem for our countries,” Blinken said during a press conference at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in India on Thursday.
Building on sanctions announced last year on Chinese companies suspected of helping Russia, the US Commerce Department on Friday added five Chinese firms to its entity list.
Beijing has criticised Washington’s moves as a symbol of “hegemonism” and vowed to take “resolute countermeasures in response to the US sanctions”.
“The US says it’s important to respect and uphold the international order, yet it has slapped massive unilateral sanctions and put its domestic laws above the international law,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday.
.scmp.com