Washington:
The Trump administration in its waning days took a different swipe at China and its greatest firms on Thursday, imposing sanctions on officials and businesses for alleged misdeeds in the South China Sea and imposing an investment ban on nine more firms.
The moves will additional raise tensions with China, Washington’s strategic rival in Asia, days just before President-elect Joe Biden requires workplace on Wednesday. The Biden transition group did not straight away respond to a request for comment.
Executives of state-owned enterprises, officials of the Chinese Communist Party and military, along with oil giant CNOOC will face new restrictions for allegedly utilizing coercion against states with rival South China Sea claims.
Nine Chinese firms had been added to the Pentagon’s list of businesses with alleged ties to the Chinese military, which includes planemaker Comac and telephone maker Xiaomi Corp.
Those businesses will be topic to a new US investment ban which forces American investors to divest holdings of the blacklisted firms by Nov. 11, 2021.
In its response, the Chinese embassy referred to Jan. 7 Foreign Ministry comments 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 comprehensive territorial claims in the South China Sea, a potentially resource-wealthy location that is also a strategic trade route. Washington accuses Beijing of intimidating states such as Vietnam and the Philippines that have competing claims there.
China accuses Washington of attempting 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 mentioned in announcing the sanctions.
Pompeo mentioned Washington was imposing visa restrictions on executives of Chinese state-owned enterprises and officials of the Chinese Communist Party and navy.
He mentioned the sanctions had been directed against 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 could also apply to instant family members members, he mentioned.
The Commerce Department accused CNOOC of harassing and threatening offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction in the South China Sea, “with the goal of driving up the political risk for interested foreign partners, including Vietnam.”
US President Donald Trump’s administration has kept up stress in its final days, targeting what Washington sees as Beijing’s bid to use corporations as a signifies to harness civilian technologies for military purposes.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross mentioned CNOOC acted as “a bully for the People’s Liberation Army to intimidate China’s neighbors” and the Chinese military “continues to benefit from government civil-military fusion policies for malign purposes.”
Ross’s division added CNOOC to an “Entity List” that demands firms to be granted a unique license just before they can acquire exports of higher-tech things from U.S. suppliers.
Chinese aviation firm Skyrizon was added to a Military End-User (MEU) List more than its capability to create military solutions which includes aircraft engines, restricting its access 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 list.
Representatives of the Chinese firms did not straight away respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday the Trump administration scrapped plans to blacklist Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, 4 folks familiar with the matter mentioned.
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