US mulls new actions against China firms supplying Russia defence sector
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China opposed the sanctions and said the US was “hypocritical” for supplying weapons to Kyiv while pressing for an end to the war.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – The United States is considering taking additional steps against Chinese companies that have been supplying Russia’s defence industrial sector, the US State Department said on June 13.
“We are considering further actions,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a briefing to reporters a day after Washington targeted China-based firms that have been selling semiconductors to Moscow.
“Our hope is that companies engaged in rearming Russia’s defence industrial base and bolstering Russia’s defence industrial base so it can rearm the Russian military... will see these actions and think twice,” he said.
The United States on June 12 announced a major expansion of sanctions designed to undercut Russia’s production of weapons for its war on Ukraine.
Among the actions, the US Commerce Department said it was targeting Hong Kong shell companies for diverting semiconductors to Russia, in steps that would affect nearly US$100 million (S$135 million) of high-priority items for Moscow including such chips.
China said it opposed the sanctions and said the United States was “extremely hypocritical and overbearing” for supplying weapons to Kyiv while pressing for an end to the war.
US-made chips and other technology have been found in a wide array of Russian hardware, from drones to radios, missiles and armoured vehicles recovered from the battlefield, Ukrainian officials say.
The conflict has raged since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
