BEIJING: China has imposed sanctions on 13 US military firms in retaliation for Washington’s planned arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing considers its “breakaway province.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing announced on Thursday that the assets of all 13 firms are frozen and no China-based entities can transact or work with them.
“Taiwan independence and peace in the Taiwan Straits are fundamentally incompatible,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
“The US insistence on using force to support Taiwan independence cannot change China’s resolve to oppose Taiwan independence and achieve national reunification,” he said.
The outgoing Biden administration has approved at least 17 arms sales to Taipei since 2021.
The US companies and executives sanctioned by China include BRINC Drones, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Red Six Solutions, Rapid Flight LLC, SYNEXXUS, Firestorm Labs, Shield AI, HavocAI, Neros Technologies, Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Cyberlux Corporation, Domo Tactical Communications, Group W.
Barbara Borgonovi, Charles Woodburn, Gerard Hueber, Beth Edler, Richard D. Crawford, and Blake Resnick are among the executives targeted by Beijing.
The Foreign Ministry added their assets in China have been frozen while Chinese entities have been banned from dealing with those sanctioned, and the sanctioned executives would be banned from entering China, including Macau and Hongkong.
China’s sanctions on US companies came at a time when Taiwanese regional leader William Ching-te Lai is on an official visit to Taipei’s three allies in the southern Pacific.
The US moves “will only push Taiwan into a perilous situation of conflict,” said the spokesperson, urging Washington to uphold the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques.
“Washington must honor its pledge not to support Taiwan independence, immediately halt arms sales to Taiwan, and cease supporting Taiwan independence forces in their pursuit of independence through military means,” he insisted.
China Asks US to Stop Sending Wrong Signals’ Over Taiwan
Lai, who began his first overseas trip last Saturday since being inaugurated in May, is on a three-nation tour to the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Palau, from where he will return to the capital Taipei.
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During his visit, he spent two nights in the US territories of Hawaii and one night in Guam where he also visited Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero at her residence.
This is the first time that any Taiwanese political figure has visited the governor’s residence.
Lai also reportedly spoke with US House Speaker Mike Johnson during his stopover in Guam.
China urged the United States to “stop sending wrong signals” over Taiwan, after the announcement that Republican US House Speaker Mike Johnson held a call with the self-ruled island’s President Lai Ching-te.
