Beijing blasts Washington for sanctioning Chinese bank over alleged ties with North Korea

In this picture taken on July 5, 2017 a man reads a newspaper displayed in a window billboard featuring a commercial for the Bank of Dandong near the Friendship bridge (not seen) on the Yalu River connecting the North Korean town of Sinuiju and Dandong in Chinese border city of Dandong. (Photo by AFP)

Beijing has blasted Washington for excluding China's Bank of Dandong from the US banking system over allegations of collusion between the bank and the North Korean government.

In June, Washington alerted firms that it was planning the exclusion. US investigators claim the bank had helped Pyongyang evade sanctions imposed by the UN on North Korea. The bans were imposed over North Korea's internationally-condemned missile and nuclear development programs. The US eventually excluded the bank on Thursday.

The exclusion comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. When banks get barred from the US financial system, they find it difficult to operate internationally.

Beijing "strongly opposes the long-armed jurisdiction imposed by any country," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters on Friday.

The Chinese government has been "comprehensively, actively, meticulously and strictly" implementing UN sanctions against North Korea, she added.  "We are meticulously following the clear stipulations on what is prohibited in the Security Council resolutions. In the meantime, every country has the right to conduct normal exchange activities that are not sanctioned by the Security Council," she said.

The Trump administration has been pressing Beijing to do more to stop North Korea from advancing its programs.

Washington sees pushing Beijing to exert pressure on North Korea as the only way short of direct contact with Pyongyang to urge the country to stop developing advanced missiles that are capable of reaching the United States.

Trump, who is to set off on an Asian tour which includes China, will once more urge President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week to exert pressure on North Korea.

Analysts believe, however, China is reluctant to push too hard and risk destabilizing the North Korean government.

The UN imposed its toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea after the government in Pyongyang test-fired new ballistic missiles in July and then conducted its most powerful nuclear test in September.