WASHINGTON, (Diya TV) — The US State Department hit a Chinese research institute, several companies, and one individual with sanctions Thursday as punishment, in part, for the latter’s role in helping Pakistan develop ballistic missiles. It is part of Washington’s ongoing efforts to stem the proliferation of missiles and enforce non-proliferation laws.
These sanctions are on Beijing Research Institute of Automation for Machine Building Industry, an organization known to be a crucial part of the developmental as well as production processes related to long-range ballistic missiles in Pakistan, which incorporate the Shaheen-3 and Ababeel. As the State Department Spokesperson Matt Miller said, RIAMB was a member of Pakistan’s National Development Complex, and allegedly, was engaged in procurement of testing equipment for large-diameter rocket motors.
Besides RIAMB, the United States has already made public three other Chinese sanctions: Hubei Huachangda Intelligent Equipment Company, Universal Enterprise Limited, and Xi’an Longde Technology Development Company Limited, which is popularly known as Lontek. Luo Dongmei, more famously known as Steed Luo, is a Chinese individual included in the sanction. These entities and the individual are accused of transferring equipment and technology controlled in the Annex to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) to Pakistan in support of missile programs that fall under MTCR Category I.
The AECA and the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) provisions regulating export of materials and technologies that may contribute to missile programs make sanctions possible. “The US State Department said it reaffirmed its commitment to using all appropriate instruments of national power to counter proliferation and related procurement activities worldwide,” reports AP.
In addition, the US has also imposed sanctions against a Pakistan-based company called Innovative Equipment for its suspected role in helping Pakistan’s missile program. This is quite similar to other sanctions it carried out last October against three China-based companies called General Technology Limited, Beijing Luo Luo Technology Development Co Ltd, and Changzhou Utek Composite Company Ltd, suspected of supplying materials and machinery considered essential in the production of ballistic missiles.
These actions are associated with the continued tensions over missile proliferation and the attempts of the world community to prevent the spread of advanced missile technologies. The US State Department sanctions underscore their commitments in enforcing standards for the non-proliferation of non-traditional weapons and security threats in the world.
