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PHOTO: Flags of the United States and China are set for a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture in Beijing, China, on June 30, 2017. REUTERS / Jason Lee / Photo File
China has summoned the US ambassador to Beijing and postponed joint military talks to protest against the US's decision to sanction a Chinese military agency and its director for the purchase of Russian fighters and gunmen. a ground-to-air missile system.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned Ambassador Terry Branstad to present "harsh representations," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it would remember Navy Chief Shen Jinlong during a visit to the United States and postpone the planned talks in Beijing between Chinese and US military officials scheduled for the next week.
She added that the Chinese army reserved the right to take other countermeasures without giving further details.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said China's decision to buy combat aircraft and missile systems was a normal act of cooperation between sovereign nations and that the United States did not have " no right to intervene ".
On Thursday, the US State Department imposed sanctions on the Department of Equipment Development (EED), the military branch responsible for arms purchases, after making "significant deals" with Rosoboronexport, the main Russian arms exporter.
The sanctions are related to China's purchase of 10 SU-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and S-400 surface-to-air missile equipment in 2018, the State Department said.
A senior US State Department official said Saturday that China was the only country to have taken over the advanced S-400 air-to-air missile system, in violation of US law imposed in response to "malicious behavior". from Russia.
The official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, insisted that the sanctions were against Moscow and not Beijing.
The so-called "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act", or CAATSA, was enacted in 2017 to punish Russia for interfering in the US elections, its aggression in Ukraine and its involvement in the civil war in Syria.
"China is the first country in the world to use both systems," said the official. "Both systems are extremely sophisticated and very valuable."
The S-400 mobile batteries, which include radars, a control system and missiles with a maximum range of 402 km, were deployed in Russia in 2007 and are considered Moscow's most effective defense against aircraft, missiles and drones. .
Russia has deployed S-400s in Syria, according to Russian official media, and US officials have discussed the interest shown by other countries, especially the ally of the country. NATO, for the purchase of the system.
Washington has expressed concern that Turkey's planned deployment of S-400 could threaten some US-made weapons and other technologies used by Turkey, including the F-35 fighter jet.
The official said that the decision against the Chinese agency was not discretionary, but that it had been taken because Beijing had violated US law. "We hope that this will be given special attention because our goal is to prevent this kind of transactions," he added.
US sanctions will prevent the EDF and its director, Li Shangfu, from applying for export licenses and participating in the US financial system.
"The American approach is a blatant violation of the basic norms of international relations, a complete manifestation of hegemony and a serious violation of relations between the two countries and their two armies," Wu said in a statement. communicated. Wechat official account.
He warned that the United States would face "consequences" if it did not immediately revoke the sanctions.
Report by David Stanway, Ben Blanchard and Lesley Wroughton; Additional report by Adam Jourdan; Edited by Nick Macfie, John Walcott and Diane Craft
