China Sanctioned for Chem, Bio Transfers to Iran
On January 16, the United States sanctioned two Chinese companies
and an individual for transferring to Iran sensitive equipment and
technology used to manufacture chemical and biological weapons.
According to the State Department, the transfers have taken place
since January 1999 and involved goods restricted by the Australia
Group, an informal body of 33 countries that coordinate their controls
on biological and chemical weapons-related exports. The United States
last sanctioned a Chinese entity for chemical or biological weapons-related
transfers in June 2001, according to an administration official.
Levied under the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 and effective
for two years, the latest sanctions prohibit the U.S. government
from conducting business with or providing assistance to the Chinese
entities: Liyang Chemical Equipment, China Machinery and Electric
Import and Export Company, and Q. C. Chen. The sanctions also bar
certain weapons and defense-related sales to the entities, as well
as sales of goods requiring particular export licenses.
In a January 25 written statement, the State Department said, “For
many years we have made known to the Chinese Government our concerns
about specific Chinese entities providing assistance to Iran’s
chemical weapons program. Q. C. Chen has been among the entities
we have raised on multiple occasions.”
Chen is already subject to U.S. sanctions imposed in 1997 for assisting
Iran’s chemical weapons program; the other two entities were
not already under sanctions. When asked, the State Department could
not say whether the United States currently conducts business with
the three entities.
The sanctions could have been waived, but Washington “did
not believe it was appropriate” to do so, the State Department
said in its statement. More information on the nature of the transfers
was not publicly available, but the fact that the sanctions were
levied about a month before President George W. Bush traveled to
China could indicate their seriousness.
China’s Foreign Ministry rebutted the U.S. charges in a January
25 statement, saying the sanctions are “unreasonable”
and “should be cancelled,” Agence France-Presse reported.
“China is opposed to any country developing chemical weapons,
and furthermore does not help any country develop chemical weapons,”
the statement said.
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