China Strongly Objects to US over North Korea-Related Sanctions

TEHRAN (defapress)- China filed “stern representations” with the United States over North Korea-related unilateral sanctions imposed on two Chinese shipping firms.

News ID: 76365

Date: 23 March 2019 - 18:25

Speaking at a daily news briefing on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang expressed Beijing’s opposition to “any country implementing unilateral or long-arm jurisdiction on Chinese entities according to their domestic laws”, presstv reported.

“China has already filed stern representations with the United States regarding this issue, urging the US to immediately stop the relevant wrong practices, in order not to affect the cooperation between two countries on the related issues,” he added.

The spokesman stated that Beijing had consistently enforced all United Nations (UN) resolutions on North Korea.

“As for Chinese enterprises and individuals, if any behavior occurs in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, once verified, China will investigate and prosecute according to our domestic law,” Geng noted.

The US on Thursday imposed sanctions on the two firms Dalian Haibo International Freight Co Ltd and Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co Ltd over the alleged evasion of US sanctions imposed on North Korea.

The measures were the first such steps since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s summit collapsed last month.

The second summit between the two leaders failed last month over differences on how far Pyongyang was willing to limit its nuclear program and the degree of US eagerness to ease sanctions.

While Trump claimed “he had to walk away” from the talks because of the North’s demands to lift all economic sanctions against Pyongyang, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said his country had never asked for the removal of all sanctions but was only seeking their partial removal.

Disappointed by the collapse of the talks, Pyongyang is considering suspending talks on denuclearization with Washington and resuming its nuclear and missile tests, a senior North Korean official said in mid-March.

The US and China are, meanwhile, involved in a trade dispute unrelated to North Korea.

Message end/