Key points
- Sanctions respond to Washington’s latest arms sales to Taiwan
- Boeing branch and Northrop Grumman among targeted companies
- Chinese entities banned from cooperation
BEIJING, China: China has announced fresh sanctions on 20 US defence firms, including a Boeing branch, over Washington’s latest arms sales to Taiwan, the island Beijing claims.
The United States has long been Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier despite China viewing the island as part of its territory and refusing to rule out using force to bring it under control, reports AFP.
Taipei said this month that Washington had approved $11 billion in defence sales in what would be one of the largest weapons packages for the island.
China criticised the deal and announced new sanctions on Friday against Boeing’s defence manufacturing outpost in St. Louis, aerospace giant Northrop Grumman and others.
“The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
“Any provocative actions that cross the line on the Taiwan issue will be met with a strong response from China,” the statement said, urging the U.S. to cease “dangerous” efforts to arm the island.
No business in China
The companies appear to have little or no business in China and some have been previously sanctioned by Beijing.
Chinese entities will be banned from working with the firms, and their assets in the country will be frozen.
The arms sales “violate the one-China principle… seriously damaging China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, Beijing’s foreign ministry said.
“We strongly object to Beijing’s efforts to retaliate against U.S. companies for their support of U.S. arms sales that support Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,” the spokesperson said, while urging Beijing to cease military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei.
China also sanctioned 10 industry executives, banning them from entering the country, including Hong Kong and Macau.
