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US, China intensify war of words over sanctions on port city builder
View(s):The United States has said that it hopes countries will examine their dealings with China’s state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to guard against what it said were the company’s abuses and “to protect their own sovereignty and interests”.
Sri Lanka clearly falls within that category because of the Government’s dealings with CCCC subsidiary China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), which is building the Colombo Port City and also constructed the Hambantota Port and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.
Last month, the US imposed sanctions on 24 Chinese companies–including CCCC–making it illegal for American companies to export products to these entities without a Government licence. It also imposed visa restrictions.
In Colombo last week, the Chinese Embassy hit back at the latest move and said it “does believe that normal business cooperation by licensed companies or individuals from China and Sri Lanka, two sovereign countries will not be effected [sic] by such unilateral and unjust sanctions from a third country”.
A statement circulated by the US Embassy in Colombo said that since 2013, China had used its state-owned enterprises to dredge and unlawfully reclaim more than 3,000 acres in the South China Sea, destabilising the region, trampling on the sovereign rights of its neighbours, and causing untold environmental devastation.
“CCCC led the destructive dredging of the PRC’s South China Sea outposts and is also one of the leading contractors used by Beijing in its global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) strategy,” the statement said. “CCCC and its subsidiaries have engaged in corruption, predatory financing, environmental destruction, and other abuses across the world.”
These sanctions are targeted at Chinese entities and the US “further encourages countries to manage risk when dealing with CCCC and its subsidiaries. CCCC has done untold environmental damage, been involved with malign actions around the world, and caused instability in the Indo-Pacific” region.
In a fresh statement this week, the Chinese Embassy said the sanctions were “totally against the truth and violating international law and norms”. It urged the US administration to “rectify its mistakes and immediately stop interfering in China’s internal affairs”.
It blamed the US for militarising the world and the region with nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries, deploying about 165,000 troops abroad and spending more than US$ 100bn annually on foreign bases and personnel.