The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Chinese military this Thursday. The Chinese government demanded the sanctions be withdrawn.
The U. S. Department of State said on Thursday that it would immediately impose sanctions on China for purchasing Russian military hardware in breach of the congressionally mandated Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) which came into effect in January 2018 and which decrees the imposition of mandatory economic sanctions on countries importing Russian military hardware.
In detail, the State Department stated that it, along with the U. S. Department of the Treasury, would impose sanctions on the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Equipment Development Department (EDD), which is part of the Chinese Military Commission and charged with research and development as well as the procurement of defense equipment for the PLA, for the procurement of S-400 Triumf air defense systems (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) and Sukhoi Su-35S (NATO reporting name: Flanker-E) fourth generation, twin-engine, multirole fighter aircraft.
“We took these actions because China took delivery of 10 Sukhoi fighter aircraft, specifically Su-25s [sic], in December of 2017 – of course, after the CAATSA statute came into force,” a senior Trump administration official said on Thursday. “And it also took delivery of a batch of S-400 – sometimes known as SA-21 – surface-to-air missile systems or related equipment in January of this year.” Notably, China is being sanctioned for taking delivery of these systems and not for the conclusion of the sales contracts with Russia as both countries signed the $2 billion contract for 24 Su-35 fighter aircraft already in November 2015 and the $3 billion S-400 deal in March or April 2015.
