A day after China’s state-run airline closed its last remaining routes to North Korea – a decision the airline’s executives blamed on a sharp decline in business travelers due to restrictive UN Security Council sanctions – Communist Party spokespeople slammed new US sanctions targeting Chinese traders doing business with North Korean businessmen, calling them “wrong” while reminding the US that China has vigorously enforced the UN sanctions.
After announcing that the US would once again designate North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism due to its missile and nuclear tests and its trading in illegal arms with terrorist groups and unsavory governments, President Donald Trump revealed that the Treasury Department would be rolling out new sanctions over the next two weeks, the US’s latest volley in a “maximum pressure campaign” against Kim Jong-Un’s regime, AFP reported.
As had been expected, the US Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that the list of North Korean and Chinese companies targeted by existing US sanctions has been expanded. It was this decision that angered the Chinese.
Only last week, Trump returned to the US from a five-nation tour of Asia with assurances from Chinese President Xi Jinping that China, the North’s primary benefactor which is responsible for 90% of its trade, would do more to economically pressure its restive neighbors.
The Treasury has added to a list of 10 Chinese companies believed to be doing business with the North in violation of international sanctions.
In response, a Chinese spokesman reiterated that China rejects unilateral sanctions against its companies and North Korea, saying these issues should be worked out through the Security Council.
“We consistently oppose any country adopting unilateral sanctions based on its own domestic laws and regulations and the wrong method of exercising long-arm jurisdiction,” foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing.
The sanctions are a sign that, despite Xi’s assurances, many doubts remain about China’s efforts to contain the North’s nuclear ambitions.
He added that if any companies or individuals have violated domestic laws, “we will severely deal with that in accordance with our laws and regulations”.
While China has backed the Security Council sanctions – which it easily could’ve blocked with a veto – the country has been reluctant to take the more drastic step of cutting off oil supplies through a pipeline to North Korea’s lone refinery, fearing that regime collapse could lead to a flood of refugees and chaos on the China-North Korea border.
Still, US authorities believe some Chinese banks and trading firms continue to do business with the North in defiance of UN sanctions, US threats of unilateral action and warnings from the Chinese government.
Since the verbal standoff between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump began shortly after the latter’s inauguration, China has pressed for dialogue between the two countries, saying this week that “more should be done” to hold talks to resolve the crisis. Specifically, both Beijing and Moscow have pushed for a “dual track approach” which would see the US freeze its military drills in South Korea while North Korea would halt its weapons programs. Ultimately, the Chinese hope the US will remove its THAAD missile defense systems from South Korea, since the Chinese see the purportedly defensive systems as a potential offensive threat.
A Chinese special envoy also wrapped up a four-day trip to the North on Monday, during which the two sides discussed regional concerns but made no direct statements about the nuclear standoff.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions would not only increase Pyongyang’s isolation but also expose “its evasive tactics.”
“These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Mnuchin said.
“We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea’s trade and its deceptive maneuvers.”
In all, the new measures add one individual, 13 trading entities and 20 ships to US sanctions lists.
Any property or assets of the firms involved found to be in areas under US jurisdiction are to be frozen, and Americans are banned from trading with them. Three Chinese firms – Dandong Kehua Economy and Trade, Dandong Xianghe Trading Company and Dandong Hongda Trade – are said to have sold computers, minerals and ore to North Korea. Chinese businessman Sun Sidong and his company Dandong Dongyuan Industrial are accused of exporting vehicles, machinery, radio navigation and “items associated with nuclear reactors.” A woman who answered the phone at the company said it was not doing business with North Korea and suggested that the firm had halted its operations.
“We are not operating,” she said.
Another woman at Dandong Kehua Economy and Trade denied knowing about the sanctions.
“We have temporarily suspended (trading),” she said.
In a surprise move, in addition to slapping sanctions on firms and North Korean ships, the Treasury added the Korea South-South Cooperation Corporation to its sanctions list. The firm is alleged to have sent North Korean guest workers to China, Russia, Cambodia and Poland. Foreign workers are a major source of income to the regime. Trump has repeatedly exhorted the US’s allies to expel North Korean guest workers, whose remittances provide a vital source of foreign currency to the regime.
Ironically, the stringent sanctions are being applied even as North Korea has, at least temporarily, ceased its missile tests. The North hasn’t launched a missile test since Sept. 15 – more than two months ago.
Some believe the North’s reticence is due to Chinese pressure. If this is accurate, we imagine Xi’s government might loosen its grip.
They are contesting the US power and sphere of influence more and more. This is a game that will result in loss of political influence for the USA.
Between Russia in ME and China in Asia things are going to get a little tougher for our US friends.
What’s “wrong” is the number of ads and pop-ups on ZeroHedge the last few months. The auto play locks up both my laptop and iPhone.
Zerohedge has more ads than a whore has venerial diseases.
North Korea’s “trading in illegal arms with terrorist groups” ???
Every time I see areas liberated from groups like ISIL, they seem to have western-origin materiel and Toyota trucks.
I’ll be entertained when Mr. Kang here performs a fatality on someone.
I suppose asking lil Kim to retire is out of the question?
like a good government worker, he is retired in place..
The maximum pressure campaign is simply to force north korea into making the first move to kick off a war which the Zionists want and need as they continue to try and keep the worlds economies afloat. A world war will avert a crisis which will also ensure the end of the US empire as well as a severely damaged china/russia which will allow the zionist headquarter state of israel to take over control of the world. Not too long back it was britain who handed over power to the US and the next move is US to hand over power to israel. The new world order will commence.
Who guessed that Trump was even more of a Ziocon than Hillary? She was just an actor, all while Drumpf was a full-on player.
Capitalists hate it when you point out that their ‘philosophy' is just billionaire socialism, but what more evidence do you need than the past few years?
There are 7.5 billion people on this planet, USA and Israel have a small share of total world population.
There are people who have a ton of money out there that are not on Forbes billionaire list and intelligent people in many countries.
Israel is too small to be considered a major power and won’t be. Israel became a state through terrorism and a book they call the bible many believe is God’s word, but written and assembled by human beings, some of whom are just as out to lunch as the pedophiles and sex addicts who govern in the USA today.
Believe what you want, but a lot of it is bullshit.
Israel is just a small nation but it is the headquarters of the zionist cult movement. Just as the small white house controls all of america, so too will small israel rule over the world. There will be no nation to challenge the rule of zionist israel after a world war. If you think western leaders are elected via the voting system by citizens then you are mistaken. The zionist cult movement selects leaders to be installed who are directly under their control or who can be manipulated and controlled to serve the zionist new world order agenda. The end game is always israel taking control. Remember that billionaires you speak of are nothing without zionist bankers and their financial systems. With the global financial systems on the verge of imploding, Zionist are desperate to get the show on the road.
Israel was not created for no reason. Zionists dont do things impulsively. The holocaust was not faked for nothing. The wheels were set in motion long ago and the world is now nearing the edge of the cliff.
It is very unusual to find someone on Zion-Hedge who clear understands the big picture.
Time for China to step up and help us throttle this madman, Kim Jong Un. If not, then China will have to have its trading entities cut off from U.S. markets. This is a peaceful solution, and is far better than risking North Korean ICBMs and thermonuclear weapons sent out way.
Time for China to step up and help us throttle this madman, Kim Jong Un. If not, then China will have to have its trading entities cut off from U.S. markets. This is a peaceful solution, and is far better than risking North Korean ICBMs and thermonuclear weapons sent out way.
Time for China to step up and help us throttle this madman, Kim Jong Un. If not, then China will have to have its trading entities cut off from U.S. markets. This is a peaceful solution, and is far better than risking North Korean ICBMs and thermonuclear weapons sent out way
I wonder if anyone in the US federal government is aware that other nations politicians will kick alliances with Americans to the fucking curb the second it is convenient for them. United States politicians stand on a pedestal and preach about how moral they are except everyone outside the united states know they’re nothing more than total pieces of shit. Donald Trump had the opportunity to go down in history books as the greatest president this nation has ever seen and instead he chose to tow the party line and not do a fucking thing. He showed up with strong support from his base and a plethora of opportunity to change policy then squandered ALL OF IT.
As for Kim Jong fat fuck, there is no reason to waste anymore time on him. MAD will keep him tucked away as the warden of his nationwide prison camp. As for what goes on inside, not our fucking problem.
Hold..Hold..Hold…it there Tex. You was shooting straight then you started missing the target. You have to keep in mind that Trump is in a dubious position. All these decisions are not Trump’s. Trump is negotiating with North Korea behind the scenes. I mean he can’t just come out and magically fire everybody and fix everything. Though I am sure he wishes he could…LOL You have to understand that to a degree he has to placate the Deep State because he’s surrouned by them and they still have LOTS of power. The corruption in America will take decades to clean up it’s so stink and filthy. However, I agree with the beginning of your post.
FK you commies and take your achor babies with you. F yours thumbs down
Sounds like SumSing Wong got his nice little North Korea business cut off and now he and the whole Wong family are crying about the Wong sanctions.
The US trying to control NK is just as futile as a parent trying to control a spirited teenage daughter who discovered her “secret weapon” – good luck with THAT!…
Israel does not respect any US laws or especially any US sanctions.
They love sanctions! More black market money laundering bidness!
So every time Trump sanctions a country, an Israeli gets their wings.
It’s entirely a charade for hot money hijacking and money laundering.
Israelis are selling Ukrainian rocket motors and nukes to the Norks!
And we’re all trapped in this MAD ZioCoach, on the highway to Hell.
Kimmy could retaliate by sinking a shipload of I-Crap headed to the US.
No, save dem plastic gizmos! We need em fer da holidays.
They’re putting trade restrictions on the wrong country. China is the bigger threat long term both militarily and economically. We should cap their exports to the US at the same value as US exports to China. If you want to fight the Globalist free-traitors and rebuild the US economy
Not much leverage when they can see for themselves whats happening to the broke US consumer.
They will simply redouble their efforts to substitute OBOR clients.
They already see the writing on the wall.
well, China is right…
Sanctions are stupido . . . period. Find some otherway, Uncle Sam. You are also using your power in the wrong ways.
And how is NK a state sponser of terrorism? Something I’m missing???
Methinks trading amongst these firms, sorry, entities that have been sanctioned could be profitable.
Where does a business apply to be sanctioned?
Possibly the State Department can be the final arbiter of which entities are truly sanctioned and those that have only got fake sanctions. People detest mere posers.
Enough serious thinking; let’s get whacky.
A few more rounds of adding more entities to The Sanctioned Ones and it could become a really attractive investment decisions,
We could use a crypto currency the move money about without the messy SWIFT getting in the way,
We could communicate ONLY using The Onion Ring (TOR) – funny how ‘tor’ means ‘gate’ in German.
Won’t be long before the Chinese, bless their souls, set up an exchange to swap a crypto for the real stuff,
GOLD
Since the gold price is that paragon of truth and an unmolested market signal, we’d need to be careful who is allowed to carry reports of market activity, CNN/WSJ/BLOOMBERG might need to be registered as foreign agents. That would hugely increase their street cred amongst the punters.
Just had a flash of inspiration, since we’re so into copying each other these days; would it be appropriate for The Donald to copy Xi Jinping and havie his (admittedly rare) thought made into official government policy for the next decade?
credit: Tyler Durden
