[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration in its waning days took one other swipe at China and its greatest companies on Thursday, imposing sanctions on officers and corporations for alleged misdeeds within the South China Sea and imposing an funding ban on 9 extra companies.
The strikes will additional enhance tensions with China, Washington’s strategic rival in Asia, days earlier than President-elect Joe Biden takes workplace on Wednesday. The Biden transition crew didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Executives of state-owned enterprises, officers of the Chinese Communist Party and army, together with oil big CNOOC will face new restrictions for allegedly utilizing coercion towards states with rival South China Sea claims.
Nine Chinese companies had been added to the Pentagon’s listing of firms with alleged ties to the Chinese army, together with planemaker Comac and telephone maker Xiaomi Corp.
Those firms can be topic to a brand new U.S. funding ban which forces American traders to divest holdings of the blacklisted companies by Nov. 11, 2021.
In its response, the Chinese embassy referred to Jan. 7 Foreign Ministry feedback accusing Washington of “pinning political and ideological labels on economic and trade issues and exploiting its state power to crack down on foreign companies, under the pretext of national security.”
The United States has lengthy opposed China’s in depth territorial claims within the South China Sea, a probably resource-rich space that can also be a strategic commerce route. Washington accuses Beijing of intimidating states comparable to Vietnam and the Philippines which have competing claims there.
China accuses Washington of making an attempt to destabilize the area by sending warships and planes to the South China Sea.
“The United States stands with Southeast Asian claimant states seeking to defend their sovereign rights and interests, consistent with international law,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated in saying the sanctions.
Pompeo stated Washington was imposing visa restrictions on executives of Chinese state-owned enterprises and officers of the Chinese Communist Party and navy.
He stated the sanctions had been directed towards these “responsible for, or complicit in, either the large-scale reclamation, construction, or militarization of disputed outposts in the South China Sea, or use of coercion against Southeast Asian claimants to inhibit their access to offshore resources.”
The restrictions might additionally apply to rapid members of the family, he stated.
The Commerce Department accused CNOOC of harassing and threatening offshore oil and gasoline exploration and extraction within the South China Sea, “with the goal of driving up the political risk for interested foreign partners, including Vietnam.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has saved up stress in its remaining days, focusing on what Washington sees as Beijing’s bid to make use of companies as a way to harness civilian applied sciences for army functions.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross stated CNOOC acted as “a bully for the People’s Liberation Army to intimidate China’s neighbors” and the Chinese army “continues to benefit from government civil-military fusion policies for malign purposes.”
Ross’s division added CNOOC to an “Entity List” that requires companies to be granted a particular license earlier than they’ll obtain exports of high-tech objects from U.S. suppliers.
Chinese aviation agency Skyrizon was added to a Military End-User (MEU) List over its potential to develop army merchandise together with plane engines, proscribing its entry to U.S. exports.
Aside from Comac and Xiaomi, the Pentagon added Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc, Luokung Technology Corp, Beijing Zhongguancun Development Investment Center, GOWIN Semiconductor Corp, Grand China Air Co Ltd, Global Tone Communication Technology Co Ltd and China National Aviation Holding Co Ltd to the listing.
Representatives of the Chinese companies didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
On Wednesday the Trump administration scrapped plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, 4 folks accustomed to the matter stated.
Disclaimer: This put up has been auto-published from an company feed with none modifications to the textual content and has not been reviewed by an editor
[ad_2]
Source link
