Radio Free Asia by Matthew Pennington 1/14/2021
The United States on Thursday blacklisted Chinese oil giant CNOOC and slapped visa restrictions on officials of the Chinese navy, ruling party and state-owned enterprises over land reclamation and “coercion†of Southeast Asian claimants in the disputed South China Sea.
The action by the Trump administration will add to U.S.-China tensions that have spiked in the past year. It comes just six days before Joe Biden takes office as the new U.S. president on Jan. 20.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the actions were intended to preserve “a free and open South China Sea.†It follows a hardening of U.S. policy in July against what it called China’s illegal maritime claims there, and the blacklisting in August on two dozen Chinese state-owned companies and executives it said were involved in the construction of artificial islands in the Paracel and Spratly island chains.
The new visa restrictions target officials and executives “responsible for, or complicit in, either the large-scale reclamation, construction, or militarization of disputed outposts in the South China Sea, or the PRC’s use of coercion against Southeast Asian claimants to inhibit their access to offshore resources in the South China Sea,†Thursday’s statement said, adding that immediate family members may also face the restrictions.
More:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/usa-southchinasea-01142021173722.html
