China has summoned the US ambassador in Beijing and postponed joint military talks in protest against a US decision to sanction a Chinese military agency and its director for buying Russian fighter jets and a surface-to-air missile system.
Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Zheng Zeguang (鄭澤光) summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad to lodge “stern representations,” the ministry said.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that it would recall Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Commander Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong (沈金龍) from a visit to the US and postpone planned talks in Beijing between Chinese and US military officials that had been set for next week.
The Chinese military reserved the right to take further countermeasures, it said, without giving details.
Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said China’s decision to buy fighter jets and missile systems from Russia was a normal act of cooperation between sovereign countries, and the US had “no right to interfere.”
On Thursday, the US Department of State imposed sanctions on China’s Equipment Development Department (EDD), the branch of the military responsible for weapons procurement, after it engaged in “significant transactions” with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms exporter.
The sanctions are related to China’s purchase of 10 SU-35 combat aircraft last year and S-400 surface-to-air missile system-related equipment this year, the US Department of State said.
A senior department official on Saturday said China was the only country that had taken possession of the advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile system, in a breach of a US sanctions law imposed in response to Russia’s “malign behavior.”
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted that the sanctions were aimed at Moscow, not Beijing.
The so-called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act was last year signed into law to punish Russia for meddling in US elections, aggression in Ukraine and involvement in Syria’s civil war.
“China is the first country in the world to use both of those systems,” the official said. “Both of those systems are extremely sophisticated and very high-value.”
The official said the move against the Chinese agency was not discretionary, but was made because Beijing broke US law.
“We hope it will be paid attention to because ... our goal is to prevent these types of transactions,” he added.
The sanctions are to block the EDD and its director, Li Shangfu (李尚福), from applying for export licenses and participating in the US financial system.
“The US approach is a blatant violation of the basic norms of international relations, a full manifestation of hegemony, and a serious breach of the relations between the two countries and their two militaries,” Wu said in a notice posted on the ministry’s Wechat account.
The US would face “consequences” if it did not immediately revoke the sanctions, he said.
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