Several of the ten companies and individuals accused by the United States of selling chemical and germ warfare materials to Iran have Canadian connections, The Asian Pacific Post has learned.
American government officials explained the companies had 'branches' and 'contacts' in Canada to help in their 'activities'. The names of the companies, nine of which are Chinese, are to be made public soon. One of the companies, which dealt with missile guidance technology is believed to have had a subsidiary in Montreal.
China recently condemned what it called 'unreasonable' the sanctions announced by the United States on the nine Chinese firms.
In a brief statement using relatively restrained language, the Chinese foreign ministry complained that Beijing was 'unhappy' with the planned US measures. 'China is unhappy with and expresses its opposition to the unreasonable sanctions of the United States,' it said.
The United States announced recently its latest measures to tackle what Washington sees as inadequate measures by China to restrict the export of goods that could be used in weapons of mass destruction.
It said it was placing sanctions on 10 foreign companies accused of selling chemical and germ warfare agents or destabilising arms to Iran.
The measures"the fourth such set of sanctions against Chinese firms in less than a year"prevent the targeted companies from doing business with the US government, and prohibit American officials from issuing export licences to US firms seeking to sell goods to them.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the decision to impose the penalties was made July 9. The sanctions were imposed based on intelligence reports of three cases of sales of advanced conventional arms and chemical- and biological-weapons components to Iran.
The transfers took place between September 2000 and October 2001. Law enforcement officials in Ottawa said the intelligence reports from the U.S. would normally be passed on to Canada's spy agency - the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
However, if past experience is anything to go by, Canada pays little attention to Chinese companies that violate embargoes or act as fronts for Beijing's espionage activities.
In the last edition of the Asian Pacific Post, it was reported that two Vancouver-based companies acted as fronts to facilitate three Chinese agents to enter Canada under false pretences.
These agents were tracking China's most wanted man Lai Changxing who is fighting to stay in Canada as a refugee. Despite the blatant infiltration that was orchestrated by the Chinese foreign ministry Ottawa has done nothing public to voice its objections. Three years ago Chretien's Liberal government, which maintains a cozy relationship with Beijing, panned a controversial but ground-breaking study on the connection between the communist government, Chinese businessmen and the Chinese mafia.
Saying the study, which was jointly done by the RCMP and the Canadian spy agency, was loaded with unfounded conspiracy theories, the project was shelved. Since then several incidents have occurred in Canada and the United States to prove that the Sidewinder study was on the right track.
Many of the companies tracked by Sidewinder were trafficking in arms and involved in illegal weapons transfers - similar to the latest group sanctioned by the United States.
