China protests US sanctions on shipping firms

BEIJING (AFP) - China has lodged a diplomatic protest with the United States after Washington sanctioned two Chinese shipping companies for doing business with North Korea, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

Beijing said it has consistently enforced all UN resolutions on North Korea after the US Treasury Department added two Chinese firms to a sanctions list on Thursday.

The US Treasury sanctioned Dalian Haibo International Freight Co. Ltd. for shipping cargo from the Chinese port of Dalian to North Korea on behalf of the Paeksol Trading Corporation, which in the past has sold metal and coal to earn money for Pyongyang.

It also blacklisted Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Co., saying it had assisted North Korean officials based in Europe in procuring goods for 
the regime.

“Since, the implementation of Section 2 of the Central Expressway has already been commenced with financial assistance from local commercial banks, this loan facility from China EXIM Bank will facilitate the speedy implementation of Kadawatha –Meerigama section ensuring the connectivity of the expressway network up to Kurunagala,” Finance Ministry said.
The loan agreement was signed on March 22 by Dr. R. H. S. Samarathunga, Secretary, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and Cheng Xueyuan, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Embassy of China in Sri Lanka on behalf of the EXIM Bank of China at the Ministry of Finance in Colombo.

The Finance Ministry said the government has accorded high importance to the development of infrastructure including expressway networks with inter-connectivity as it will directly contribute to the economic growth and will have indirect effects in raising the productivity and efficiency in different economic sectors.