President Trump’s team must not try to punish Chinese companies that work with North Korea, a senior Chinese diplomat warned Friday.
“We oppose any country using unilateral sanctions or imposing ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ on Chinese entity or individual in accordance with its domestic laws,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a press briefing.
That protest came on the heels of the United States imposing sanctions on a tech company based in China “but in reality it is managed and controlled by North Koreans,” according the Treasury Department. Geng defended the company, even as lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to sanction North Korea’s Chinese partners more aggressively.
“China has lodged stern representations with the US, urging the US side to stop its wrong action,” Geng said.
The Trump administration imposed secondary sanctions on Yanbian Silverstar Network as well as its “Russia-based sister company, Russia Silver Star” on Thursday. “These actions are intended to stop the flow of illicit revenue to North Korea from overseas information technology workers disguising their true identities and hiding behind front companies, aliases, and third-party nationals,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Still, some Republican lawmakers worry that Trump is flinching from imposing sanctions on the most significant Chinese backers of North Korea, even as China reportedly has thrown North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un a series of economic lifelines in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions.
“I’m very concerned that our ‘maximum pressure’ campaign is faltering,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce said during a Thursday hearing. “Kim appears to be using talks, as he has time and again, to probe for weaknesses and buy time. When our messages are confusing or contradictory, we shouldn’t be surprised when others, like Beijing, reportedly resume importing North Korean coal.”
Another Republican suggested that the administration is hesitant to target the largest Chinese banks that work with North Korea. “Are you looking at these banks as too big to fail — too big to sanction, I guess?” Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, who chairs the panel’s Asia-Pacific subcommittee, asked.
The Treasury Department witness explained that the administration is taking a narrower approach to punishing violations at those large financial institutions.
“What we’re doing is engaging in very specific discussions with the banks, particularly through their New York offices, to really drill down into the particular account holders that we believe are North Korean-related, to get them to expunge those people from their bank rolls,” said assistant secretary Marshal Billingslea. “And we have made some pretty good progress along those lines.”
China denies any wrongdoing with respect to enforcement of North Korea sanctions. “China has fully and strictly implemented DPRK-related resolutions of the UN Security Council,” Geng said, using the official acronym for the Kim regime.