China on Sunday named its new defense minister, Li Shangfu, a general who has been under US sanctions since 2018 for overseeing China’s purchase of Russian military equipment.
The US sanctions on Li could hinder the already-delicate dialogue between the US and China. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had been holding talks with Li’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe, until the Pentagon shot down a Chinese balloon that floated over the US due to unexpected weather.
After the balloon was shot down, Austin tried to call Wei, but Beijing declined the request. On February 23, Austin told CNN that he hadn’t spoken with Wei for a “couple of months.”
Li was targeted with US sanctions while he was the head of China’s Equipment Development Department, which acquired SU-35 fighter aircraft and S-400 air defense systems from Russia.
The US sanctioned Li under the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which was also invoked to sanction Turkey’s weapons acquisitions agency for purchasing S-400s.
Li’s appointment and the lack of dialogue between the US and Chinese militaries came after China’s new foreign minister, Qin Gang, warned of “conflict and confrontation” if the US does not change course on its military buildup in the Asia Pacific and other policies aimed at confronting China.
The world has not evolved, very much, at all.
A Deep Truth.
Indeed their are still Dinosaurs in Washington and Israel. Some people are slow to get the word and some never do
I’m getting impatient. China might as well enforce US sanctions on itself at this point. The longer it tries to prevent US sanctions, the more the US politicians will try to bully them. The next move would be a stupidly obvious false flag operation and we’re done. Like always, the only way out of this WWIII is if I’m wrong. Please prove me wrong.
(Sarcasm alert)
I enjoy starting my day with a smile NA, thank you. Now the rest of the day, I worry about where the first nukes will land…
I live for your pithy witty comments
“the 2017 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act”
What kind of jackass thinks up crap like this?
America doesn’t have any adversaries. America is the adversary.
What? Xi isn’t asking for Biden’s approval in selecting China’s highest level officials? Well, I’ll be plumb jiggered!
It will, be a good day for humanity and civilization if and when China becomes powerful enough to issue sanctions on the US agressors
What I would like to see is the day when the rest of the world can afford to just ignore the US and let it stew in its own juices.
They wouldn’t need to impose sanctions on USA, just make USA buy Chinese products with Chinese currency. They have been shipping products to U.S. in exchange for a lot of green paper. They may be realizing it is not a good deal. Especially when they get daily attacks from U.S.
Sanctioned for doing business. I can’t stop laughing at the premise. We are a joke.