Beijing labels US arms companies Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin as unreliable entities and put them on the sanctions list, citing their weapons sales to Taiwan.
The US firms are now prohibited from carrying out import and export activities with Beijing, and investing in the Chinese economy, with their senior staff barred from entering China and employees no longer eligible to live and work in the country.
Beijing explained its decision as the need to protect China’s national sovereignty and security, which it considers undermined by supplies of weapons to Taiwan.
China also fined the defense companies the sum that double the amount of contracts on arms sales to the Chinese refugee asylum island.
In September 2022, Beijing also imposed sanctions on the heads of Raytheon Technologies and Boeing Defense, Space & Security over their plans to send weapons to Taiwan.
Last year, the United States approved the weapons package for Taiwan, which totaled $1.1 billion and included Harpoon and Sidewinder missiles for modernizing the island’s defense capabilities and serving US security interests.
China considers Taiwan an unalienable part of its sovereign territory and opposes any official contacts between the island and other countries. The USA has been supporting the government of Taiwan and selling weapons to the island.
Beijing has repeatedly said that the One China principle is a political foundation of China-US relations and that violations by Washington of its own obligations have been jeopardizing cooperation between the two countries, threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point News 2023.
A little taste of their own medicine?