US blacklists China bank

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The United States has blacklisted a small Chinese bank accused of illicit dealings with North Korea, escalating the pressure on Beijing to rein in its wayward ally amid increased signs of frustration among President Donald Trump and his top advisers with China’s diplomatic efforts.

The Treasury Department on Thursday declared the Bank of Dandong a “primary money-laundering concern,” proposing to sever it entirely from the U.S. financial system, pending a 60-day review period. Although Trump’s treasury secretary said the move didn’t target China, it comes a week after the president lamented that China’s promise to help with North Korea “has not worked out.”

Calls to Bank of Dandong rang unanswered Friday. Beijing, however, criticized Washington’s action, saying that unilateral sanctions outside the U.N. Security Council were inappropriate.

“We also firmly oppose any individual country to exercise long-arm jurisdiction under its own domestic law,” said Lu Kang, spokesman for China’s foreign ministry.

Trump had been leaning on President Xi Jinping to help stop the North’s development of nuclear weapons before they can threaten the U.S. homeland. A main focus of the coordination has been getting China to fully enforce international sanctions intended to starve North Korea of revenue for its nuclear and missile programs.

The U.S. action is likely to anger China, which handles about 90 percent of North Korea’s external trade, and whose banks and companies are said to provide Pyongyang access to the U.S.-dominated international financial system.

The sanctions bar Americans from doing business with Bank of Dandong, which is based in a northeastern Chinese city on the North Korean border that serves as a gateway for trade with the isolated nation. The U.S. also slapped sanctions Thursday on a Chinese shipping company and two Chinese people that it said have facilitated illegal activities by North Korea.