La Jornada: Beijing orders energy companies to ignore Washington sanctions

Beijing. The Chinese government warned yesterday Saturday that it will not comply with the sanctions imposed by the United States against five national companies accused of buying oil from Iran, a country from which the Asian giant imports much of its crude oil.

In recent months, in order to deprive Iran of its revenue, Washington has strengthened sanctions against Chinese oil refineries that source crude oil from the Islamic republic at a reduced price.

However, in a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce considered that these measures should “neither be recognized, applied nor respected” and yesterday ordered all energy companies affected by US sanctions for their alleged links with Iran to ignore these retaliations from Washington and continue with their activities as before.

legal defense

The announcement affects five companies, in particular the petrochemical giant Hengli, operator of the enormous Lianoning complex, the second largest in the country.

At the end of last month, the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Treasury Department agency in charge of investigating these companies, announced sanctions against Hengli after denouncing that, since at least 2023, it received shipments of Iranian oil from sanctioned vessels, which alone have delivered more than 5 million barrels of crude oil.

Hengli rejected any type of relationship and announced the hiring of an international team of specialized legal services to defend itself.

The Ministry of Commerce stated that the sanctions “unduly prohibit or restrict the normal economic, commercial and related activities of Chinese companies with third countries (…) and violate international law and fundamental norms governing international relations.

“The Chinese government has always opposed unilateral sanctions lacking UN authorization and no basis in international law” and “will continue to closely monitor cases of improper extraterritorial application of foreign laws and measures.”