January 18, 2005 :: New York Times :: News
Earlier this month, the State Department yet again sanctioned seven Chinese companies for their illicit proliferation of ballistic missile aid to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism. Sanctions were also applied against one firm based in Taiwan and one in North Korea. The notice in the Federal Register said that the nine were being penalized for transferring to Iran “equipment and technology controlled under multilateral export control lists.”
As President Bush observed a number of years ago, China is a “strategic competitor” of the United States. It would be well to remember this as we formulate a more aggressive anti-proliferation policies. The real sources of proliferation are Russia and China. It is from these countries that Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea received the vast amount of missile technology and equipment. As the New York Times notes, the most recent round of sanctions will probably have little effect on any of these companies’ financial well being. And the companies’ ties to the Chinese government and military make such financial sanctions even less dubious of success. At some level, a policy decision to proliferate such technologies to these regimes has been made. Unless the Chinese government changes that policy, or unless we are willing to boldly identify it and employ more serious sanctions, we must resign ourselves to the inevitability of such proliferation.
» August 30, 2004: Photographs suggest changes to Shahab reentry device
» January 18, 2005: China says sanctions “not wise”
» September 27, 2004: Seven Chinese companies sanctioned
» November 18, 2004: Powell claims Iran modifying Shahabs to carry nuclear warhead
» More stories on: China, Iran, North Korea, Proliferation
