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Leaders seek sanctions on Chinese firms selling war materials to Russia

Radio Free Asia

An international alliance of lawmakers has called on more countries to blacklist Chinese companies accused of providing military-industrial support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The cross-party Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), whose members hail from 25 countries in North America, Europe and Australia, have called on their governments to replicate sanctions made by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Hong Kong World Jetta Logistics, Sinno Electronics, King Pai Technology, Winninc Electronic and Connec Electronic.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims it doesn’t extend military assistance to Russia, but Chinese customs data showed increased exports of raw materials for military use to Russia.

In the first five months of 2022, Chinese chip shipments to Russia more than doubled from a year earlier to U.S. $50 million, while exports of components like printed circuits also recorded double-digit percentage growth.

China also exported 400 times more alumina — an important raw material for weapons production and the aerospace industry — to Russia compared with the same period in 2021.

“The signatories call for an export control and scrutiny mechanism to target [Chinese] entities providing support to Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine,” the IPAC said in a July 2022 statement on its website. (Pictured: Chinese companies have exported raw materials used for military purposes to Russia.)

“Technologies produced on our shores cannot be allowed to further aid Russia’s senseless war in Ukraine,” they said in a joint letter to their foreign ministries.

“As [the PRC is] Russia’s largest single trading partner, ensuring [its] entities do not act to weaken the impact of international sanctions on Russia is of critical importance,” said the letter, whose signatories included U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher and Young Kim, German Green MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, and former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine comes amidst a deepened ‘no limits’ friendship between Moscow and Beijing,” IPAC co-chair Bütikofer said.

“The Chinese government is working around the clock to push the Kremlin’s lies and disinformation on Ukraine across the globe, while Chinese companies continue to supply the Russian military with crucial technologies. Companies which service Putin’s senseless war in Ukraine must be named, shamed and face the consequences.”

The U.S. Commerce Department announced on June 29, 2022, that Chinese companies had supplied items to Russian “entities of concern” before the February 2022 invasion, adding that they “continue to contract to supply Russian entity listed and sanctioned parties.”

The agency also added another 31 entities to the blacklist from countries that include Russia, Lithuania, Pakistan, Singapore, UAE, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

IMAGE CREDIT: IStock

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