Missile sanctions over China’s M-11 transfers

By the early 1990s US intelligence was tracking reports that China was supplying Pakistan with components and technology for the M-11, a short-range ballistic missile. US officials believed a shipment had taken place in late 1992¹.

In August 1993 the Clinton administration determined that certain Chinese and Pakistani entities had engaged in transfers of items listed in Category II of the Missile Technology Control Regime annex related to the M-11, and imposed sanctions required by US law for two years^2,3. For Pakistan, already under Pressler sanctions, the practical effect was limited, but the determination added missiles to the list of proliferation concerns shaping US policy. For China, the sanctions threatened high-technology trade, including satellite exports.

In October 1994 the United States waived the M-11-related sanctions after China promised to observe the MTCR’s guidelines and not to export ground-to-ground missiles inherently capable of carrying a 500-kilogram payload 300 kilometres^1,2. Questions about Chinese missile assistance to Pakistan continued through the decade and resurfaced repeatedly in US intelligence reporting and congressional debate⁴.