New U.S. sanctions draw warnings

From wire services

BEIJING — China demanded the United States immediately withdraw a package of sanctions on companies and individuals trading with North Korea on Wednesday, and said the decision by the Trump administration will damage SinoU.S. ties.

A senior Russian diplomat also was warning against expanding sanctions against North Korea, saying it’s necessary to focus on a political settlement.

The Treasury Department placed sanctions Tuesday on 10 companies and six individuals from China and Russia that it said had conducted business with North Korea in ways that advanced the country’s missile and nuclear weapons program.

But China’s Foreign Ministry insisted its government had fully implemented U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea, and would punish anyone caught violating the Security Council sanctions under Chinese law.

It added that it opposed sanctions outside the framework of the Security Council.

“China especially opposes any country conducting ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ over Chinese entities and individuals,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news conference. “Measures taken by the United States are not helpful in solving the problem and unhelpful to mutual trust and cooperation. We ask the United States to stop the relevant wrong practices immediately.”

Yet despite China’s professed opposition to unilateral sanctions, it has not hesitated to punish other countries through trade if they refuse to do Beijing’s bidding.

Also, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that “the scope of sanctions already endorsed by the U.N. Security Council is such that any possibilities of expanding such measures have been exhausted.”

In August, the Security Council agreed to a total ban on coal imports from North Korea; in the past, a limited trade had been allowed, provided it was purchased from a sanctioned North Korean company and proven to be for “livelihood purposes.”

In related news, North Korea’s state news media released a photograph Wednesday suggesting that the North was working on a more powerful solid-fuel ballistic missile and said the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, had ordered the production of more rocket engines and warheads.

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