Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 59, July - August 2001

News Review

US Imposes Sanctions on China, North Korea Companies

On June 27, the Bush administration announced the imposition of sanctions against companies in China and North Korea accused by Washington of assisting Iranian efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The sanctioned companies are the Jiangsu Yongli Chemicals and Technology Import and Export Corporation (China) and the Changgwang Sinyong Corporation (North Korea). According to State Department spokesperson Susan Pittman, the Chinese company was guilty of providing "technical assistance controlled under a multilateral regime" - according to widespread speculation, the regime refers to the Chemical Weapons Convention - while the North Korean company was responsible for "the transfer to Iran of equipment and technology controlled under the Missile Technology Control Regime".

On June 28, Zhang Qiyue, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, stated emphatically: "China opposes any country developing chemical weapons and would not assist any country in doing so. China does not export chemicals, equipment or technologies used for making chemical weapons. The company in question was engaged in normal international chemical trade activities which were in line with the goals of the Convention."

On July 31, following talks in Beijing, Secretary of State Colin Powell predicted "indefinite delay" in a decision by the Bush administration on resumption of the export of communications satellites to China, prohibited by US law since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Rigorous fulfilment of China's November 2000 commitment not to allow any WMD-related exports is a condition of the lifting of the ban. Powell's assessment of Beijing's determination to honour this pledge was clear from his remark to reporters that the Chinese leaders "knew what they had to say [to me] and they didn't say it."

On August 6, the Washington Times reported that China's National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corporation had been supplying, following the November 2000 declaration, components for Pakistan's Shaheen missile programme. Responding to the report, State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher, taking an apparently softer line than Powell, noted (August 6) that "first and foremost, what we want to see is [the] Chinese abide by this [November 2000] agreement and implement their new system of controls effectively. They told us when we were in Beijing [in July] that they were serious about doing that, that they were engaged in the process of establishing a new system of export controls." On August 9, a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied any credence to the Times story, insisting that Beijing was implementing its commitments in a "serious, earnest and responsible" manner. The statement further stressed "that the Chinese side has reasons to urge the US government to implement in earnest the policy it announced last November and take effective actions to remove the artificial barriers on satellite exports".

A US Congressional delegation visited Beijing in mid-August for talks prominently featuring non-proliferation issues. On August 8, Joseph Biden, Democratic Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters he had pointed out to President Jiang Zemin "that the more China was viewed by us as proliferating technology, the more it increased the prospect that the United States would feel justified in building a national missile defence system..." According to the Senator, Jiang "was very formal in saying that China has kept to the letter of all agreements, and we agreed to disagree... [He] specifically indicated that he did not want to see North Korea obtain a...long-range missile capability."

Note: on August 3, President Bush signed into law a 5-year extension of the 1996 Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA). The law bars US companies from engaging in any commercial or financial activity with either country, and stipulates sanctions against foreign companies engaging in certain kinds of activity, such as investments in excess of $40 million in petroleum development or infrastructure. In a statement, the President noted: "My administration shares the Congress' deep concerns about the objectionable policies and behaviour of Iran and Libya. ... With respect to Iran, we continue to have serious concerns over its support for terrorism, opposition to the Middle East peace process, and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction."

Reports: US says China, N. Korea firms aid Iran weapons bid, Reuters, June 27; China urges US to lift 'unreasonable' sanctions, Reuters, June 28; US seen delaying satellite exports to China, Reuters, July 31; Bush signs extension of Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, Washington File, August 3; US reluctant to sanction China arms tech exporters, Reuters, August 6; Senators talk arms, missile defense in China, Reuters, August 8; Statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, August 9; US Senators - China President candid, Associated Press, August 10.