US Secretary of State's statement
On August 26, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement about the US imposing restrictions on a number of Chinese state-owned enterprises and business leaders related to illegal activities in the East Sea.
The US supports a free and open East Sea. We respect the sovereignty of all countries regardless of their scale, and wish to maintain peace and protect freedom at sea in accordance with international law. In July, I announced an updated policy regarding Beijing's illegal maritime claims in the East Sea and emphasized that the US is ready to take drastic action against Beijing's bullying campaign, Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo said.
Mr. Trump announced: Today, the US State Department will begin to impose visa restrictions on Chinese individuals responsible for or collaborating with large-scale buildup, or military hoa of entities in the East Sea, or participateing in China's use of coercive measures against Southeast Asian countries to prevent these countries from accessing offshore resources.
These individuals will no longer be allowed to enter the US and their direct family members may also be subject to the visa restrictions.
In addition, the US Department of Commerce has added 24 more Chinese state-owned enterprises to the Commodity List, including a number of member companies of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
Since 2013, China has used state-owned enterprises to dredge and fill more than 3,000 samples (more than 12 km2) of structures in the East Sea, causing instability in the region, damaging neighboring sovereignty, and severely destroying the environment.
The CCCC has played a leading role in China's destructive dredging activities in the East Sea and is also one of the leading contractors used by Beijing in the global strategy of "Ring and Road".
The CCCC and its member businesses have engaged in arbitrary corruption, lending, environmental destruction and other abuses around the world, Trump said in a statement.
China cannot be allowed to use CCCC and other state-owned enterprises as weapons to impose an expansion plan. The US will act until we see Beijing end its enforcement in the South China Sea, and we will continue to stand side by side with our allies and partners in countering this unstable act, US Secretary of State Mike Trump stressed.
CCCC and controversial projects
Satellite images analyzed by defense consultancy IHS Jane's in 2016 showed a subsidiary of the CCCC operating most of the giant barges digging sand from the seabed and piled up on rocks in the East Sea, including Vanh Khanh stone, Subi stone and Chu Thap stone.
According to the SCMP, CCCC is at the forefront of building many projects in the "belt and road" initiative, including SGR standard railway projects worth billions of dollars, which are increasingly controversial in Kenya. SGR has transported goods and passengers on the route connecting Kenya's capital Nairobi and the Mombasa coastal port city since 2017.
Recently, the Appellate Court Kenya ruled that the Kenya Railway Group of the State had not complied and violated the national law "During the shopping process of the SGR standard railway project", and the railway construction contract between Kenya Railway Group and the Chinese Bridge Group was judged by the Appellate Court of Kenya.
The SGR posted $136 million in revenue in 2019, and the Kenyan parliament revealed in June that the Kenyan Railway Group had not paid $380 million in management fees.
US State Department officials have cited a list of CCCC projects in the "Ring and Road" initiative that is currently mired in controversy, including the port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka, where the Sri Lankan government has given the CCCC China Port Corporation an 85% stake for $1.1 billion. The South Asian country has struggled to repay up to $8 billion in debt to China.
The CCCC is also one of the companies involved in Beijing-led efforts to build airports in Greenland that the White House blocked in 2018 over concerns it could provide the Chinese military with a strong position in the Arctic.
According to the Wall Street Journal, CCCC also has business interests in the US. The company has invested in a commercial, retail and residential real estate project worth about $1 billion in Los Angeles called The Grand. A subsidiary of CCCC, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co., also known as ZPMC, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of port machinery and has provided cranes and related services to US ports.
Other Chinese entities targeted by the Commerce Department include companies that develop and manufacture positioning and telecommunications equipment. These include research institutes operated by two large state-owned defense contractors, the China Electronics Technology Group and the China State Shipbuilding Group.
