US targets Chinese individuals, 24 companies amid South China Sea dispute

[WASHINGTON] The United States on Wednesday targeted 24 Chinese companies and a number of individuals it said were part of ongoing construction and military actions over disputed islands in the South China Sea, the US State and Commerce departments said.

The US Commerce Department, in a statement, said the two dozen companies played a "role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarise the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea."

The Trump administration has penalised dozens of Chinese companies in previous months by adding them to the so-called entity list over national security concerns related to advanced technology and alleged human rights violations against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region.

But this is the first time that the administration has used the entity list in relation to China's encroachment in the South China Sea, which stretches south of Hong Kong and borders the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries.

The State Department also announced that it would begin imposing visa restrictions on Chinese citizens "responsible for, or complicit in, either the large-scale reclamation, construction, or militarisation of disputed outposts in the South China Sea." Such individuals would be barred from the United States, and their family members may also face visa restrictions, the announcement said.

REUTERS,NYTimes