U.S. to Impose Sanctions on China, Others Over Iran

Reuters via NYTimes.com ^ | 5/8/02

[GeneD]

Filed at 7:18 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Underscoring growing concerns about Iran, the Bush administration has decided to impose new sanctions on Chinese, Armenian and Moldovan companies accused of aiding Tehran's alleged weapons of mass destruction programs, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

He told Reuters the U.S. Congress would be formally notified soon of the decision, which is being taken under the 2000 Iran Nonproliferation Act.

The sanctions are imposed because of ``weapons transactions with Iran'' -- part of what President Bush calls the ``axis of evil'' along with Iraq and North Korea -- and to demonstrate ''we're paying increased attention to the Iran Nonproliferation Act,'' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He did not disclose the names or numbers of the companies affected nor the exact nature of their activities. But he said both the number of sanctions imposed and the number of companies penalized are ``going up.''

The official said the companies and individuals in Moldova and Armenia may be a ``front'' for Russian entities, given those countries' status as former Soviet republics. Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., the administration has vowed to crack down on states developing nuclear, chemical, biological and missile technology that could be used by terrorists.

[Imal]

Wow, if this is for real, I'm impressed. The Clinton Administration perennially ignored mounds of evidence to this effect throughout its entire existence, despite federal laws that mandate sanctions against China for selling weaponry to Iran and other pariah nations.

Imal

[tallhappy]

Thanks for posting this.

The Communist Chinese regime has made it very clear where they stand.

[LarryLied]

The Clinton Administration perennially ignored mounds of evidence to this effect throughout its entire existence

China sold Iran 500 tons of the chemicals needed to make VX nerve gas and Clinton did nothing.

Bush is hammering them on several fronts.The steel tariff has hurt their industry, not because they can't export to the USA but due to South Korea and several former Soviet Republics dumping steel in the Chinese market. Allowing China into the WTO after they had begged for 15 years to get in was also a good move. China is faced with a flood of other imports. Despite all their products in Walmart, China is not competitive in many fields and they are feeling the competition now that they have to play by the same rules the big boys do.

Free traders have always maintained that opening up chinese markets would reform their political system. The problem has been that while the markets were opened, China did not feel, wholly, the effects of a free market. Now they do.

[Imal]

Great analysis, and a very interesting point about the steel tariff, which otherwise looks like a train wreck (although I am somewhat familiar with the reasons behind it that don't get much ink).

The game of Chinese Checkers continues...

Imal

[LarryLied]

Was there more behind the steel tariff than the union vote? I was dead set against it until BBC reported that China was screaming about steel which would have gone to the USA being dumped in their markets. Maybe it has occurred in the past but I can't recall us ever having much leverage on the trade issue with China. Bush does now.

[Imal]

There's a pretty good article in BusinessWeek, Behind the Steel-Tariff Curtain (March 8, 2002), that describes some of the considerations Bush had to make.

It boiled down to a difficult conflict between domestic concerns and international issues. Bush opted for the tariff both to appease/relieve domestic steel and in response to a global steel market glutted with subsidized foreign steel.

The problem with a decision like this is that there is no solution that will please anyone.

Imal

[GOP_1900AD]

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