Biden Admin Sanctions Chinese Fishing Companies for Human Rights Abuses

The Biden administration is imposing sanctions on several individuals and corporations related to what it describes as human rights abuses stemming from the Chinese regime’s illegal fishing.

The Treasury Department announced on Dec. 9 that the measures would affect Chinese nationals Li Zhenyu and Zhuo Xinrong, as well as 10 entities linked to them, including Dalian Ocean Fishing and Pingtan Marine Enterprise.

The move will freeze any U.S.-based assets of the designated parties and bar Americans from entering most types of business deals with them. The inclusion of Pingtan is notable as it is the first time the United States has imposed sanctions on a NASDAQ-listed company.

Washington also listed 157 China-flagged fishing vessels, which it linked to the entities.

“Today’s action demonstrates the U.S. government’s ongoing effort to impose tangible and significant consequences on those engaged in serious human rights abuse, including on those vessels engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing,” a Treasury Department statement said.

The Treasury made the move in accordance with an executive order issued by then-President Donald Trump in 2017, which declared that serious incidents of human rights abuse and corruption constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States.

The move also built on a national security memorandum issued by President Joe Biden in June of this year, which found that unchecked IUU of the type frequently practiced by the Chinese regime resulted directly in labor abuses that threatened the livelihoods and human rights of fishers from other countries.

Communist China’s fishing practices have caused a considerable international outcry in recent years, as Chinese vessels often violate other nations’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones and wreak environmental damage and economic losses on fishers from nations throughout the world.

“Treasury condemns the practices of those sanctioned today, which often involve the abuse of human rights, undermine fundamental labor and environmental standards, and harm the economic prospects of local populations in the Indo-Pacific,” said Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson.

“These designations demonstrate how seriously we take the problem of illicit fishing and our commitment to holding the perpetrators of serious human rights abuses to account.”

The Treasury Department issued a second set of sanctions against 40 more individuals and companies later in the day. Those measures target people and entities across the globe for links to corrupt activity and serious human rights abuses, including in Russia and Iran.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Andrew Thornebrooke is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering China-related issues with a focus on defense, military affairs, and national security. He holds a master’s in military history from Norwich University.

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