China has expressed "strong dissatisfaction" to the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on a state-run oil company that allegedly provided large amounts of gasoline to Iran.
Washington said Thursday it is hitting Zuhai Zhenrong Corporation with sanctions for brokering the delivery of more than $500 million in gasoline to Iran over six months.
The official Xinhua news agency carried a statement late Saturday from Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, who said Beijing firmly opposes the move.
Liu said China's cooperation with Iran is similar to other countries. He called the sanctions without reason and against the content and spirit of resolutions by the U.N. Security Council on the Iran nuclear issue.
The sanctions came shortly after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with Chinese leaders in Beijing to ask for help in implementing the U.S. and European campaign to squeeze Iran's oil revenues and push Tehran to halt its nuclear program. China has resisted economic sanctions against the Middle Eastern country.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.