China lodged a protest against the latest U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies over their alleged attempts to evade U.S. export controls on Russia, calling it an illegal move that endangers global supply chains. The U.S. Commerce Department last week put an additional five firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong on its “entity list,” barring them from trading with any American firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license. Washington has been forcing companies to choose between trading with Russia or with the U.S. A total of 28 entities from countries ranging from Malta to Turkey to Singapore were added to the list. A statement from China’s Commerce Ministry said the U.S. action “has no basis in international law and is not authorized by the United Nations Security Council”. “It is a typical unilateral sanction and a form of ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ which seriously damages the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and affects the security and stability of the global supply chain. China firmly opposes this,” the statement said.
“The U.S. should immediately correct its wrongdoing and stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies. China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” it added. The latest sanctions were leveled against Allparts Trading Co; Avtex Semiconductor; ETC Electronics; Maxtronic International Co; and STK Electronics Co, registered in Hong Kong. The Chinese protest was similar to one issued in February after the U.S. announced sanctions against the Chinese company Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute Co, also known as Spacety China. The Department said the company supplied Russia’s Wagner Group with satellite imagery of Ukraine that support Wagner’s military operations there. A Luxembourg-based subsidiary of Spacety China was also targeted. At that time China's Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of “outright bullying and double standards” for sanctioning its companies while intensifying efforts to provide Ukraine with weapons, the South China Morning Post reports.
