Foreign Ministry: China opposes U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Chinese media) -- China expressed opposition Tuesday to the

United States' decision to impose sanctions on two Chinese companies that

allegedly violated U.S. anti-proliferation laws.

"China's stance on anti-proliferation is clear," Foreign Ministry

spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing.

She said China firmly opposed the U.S. sanctions against the Chinese

companies and added that the action "was not good for healthy bilateral

cooperation in the field of anti-proliferation."

The Obama administration on Monday announced it had imposed sanctions on

companies in China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran

for violating U.S. laws aimed at stopping the spread of missiles and other

weapons technology.

The U.S. government said it had determined that two Chinese companies,

Dalian Sunny Industries and Bellamax, had engaged in activities that breached

the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Administration Act of 1979, according

to the Monday edition of the U.S. Federal Register (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a090202c.html)

The United States also claimed that the two companies had engaged in

proliferation activities, which violated Executive Order 12938 of Nov. 14, 1994.

The sanctions, which took effect on Feb. 2, bar the companies from

providing goods, technology or services to U.S. government agencies and

departments for two years. The sanctions also bar the import of any goods,

technology or services from these companies into the United States, the Register

said.