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March 5, 2015

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China defends ship held in Colombia

Source: Agencies | March 5, 2015, Thursday | Print Edition

CHINA said yesterday that a ship detained in Colombia for “illegally” transporting arms and operated by China’s largest shipping group was involved in normal trade cooperation.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the vessel was carrying ordinary military supplies to Cuba and was not in violation of any international obligations.

The “Da Dan Xia,” operated by Cosco Shipping Co, was headed for Cuba when it was stopped on Saturday in the northern port of Cartagena, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, after the arms were detected during an inspection.

According to Luis Gonzalez, national director of the Colombian attorney general’s office, the general cargo ship, which has been held since Saturday, was loaded with undeclared military equipment, including about 100 tons of gunpowder, 99 projectile bases and 3,000 artillery cartridge cases.

The ship’s documentation “conflicted with what was actually found” aboard, Gonzalez said.

The cargo was listed in the records of the 28,451 deadweight-ton ship as grain products.

The captain of the Hong Kong-flagged vessel has been arrested, the attorney general’s office said.

Hua, however, maintained that the ship was operating within Chinese and international law.

“The vessel is carrying ordinary military supplies and utilities to Cuba; there are no sensitive substances on board,” she told a regular briefing.

“The cooperation does not violate China’s laws and regulations nor the international obligations that China undertakes,” she said, dismissing the incident as “completely normal military trade cooperation.”

China “always asks companies operating overseas to abide by local laws and regulations,” Hua said.

The freighter was due to stop in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla before ending its journey in Havana.

Photographs from the prosecutor’s office showed wooden cases inside a shipping container with labels stating Chinese defense manufacturer China North Industries Group Corp as the supplier.

The company, known as Norinco, is China’s biggest arms maker. A company spokesman said the ship was carrying some of its products, which had been sold legally, but that reported details of what was on board were “not true.”

“Some media reports of what the ship was carrying do not accord with the reality of the situation,” he said.

“The products we sent over this time were mainly raw materials for the production of bullets.

“We have always been a responsible international company.”

The recipient was stated as importer Tecnoimport in the Cuban capital Havana.

Cosco Shipping is part of the state-backed China Ocean Shipping Group Co conglomerate.

The attorney general’s office said the ship’s captain, Wu Hong, will be brought before a judge in order to be detained pending charges, and has been provided with an interpreter.

Officials said he could be charged with the illegal transport of military materials.

A man who identified himself as the Chinese ship’s first officer yesterday confirmed that it had been detained in Colombia.

He declined to comment further on the subject.

Nation


 

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