China has imposed sanctions on US-based defense companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies for selling weapons to Taiwan.
The move comes in response to a $100-million deal with the two arms manufacturers to maintain Taiwan’s missile defense systems approved by the US on February 7.
“In order to protect the sovereignty and security interests of China … the Chinese government has decided to take countermeasures in response to the actions of the American military-industrial companies Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies, which have been involved in supply Taiwan with American weapons for a long time,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin stated at a media briefing on Monday.
China’s New Sanctions Law
The sanctions against the two companies are the third to be imposed against them by China.
China announced sanctions against Lockheed and Raytheon in 2019 and 2020. However, the country did not elaborate on what the sanctions entailed.
This round of sanctions marks the first time the two companies have faced restrictions under Beijing’s new sanctions law passed last year to counter US sanctions against Chinese firms.
Beijing reiterated that the US should stop defense exports to Taiwan and sever military ties with the island nation. However, the US is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide the East Asian country with the means to defend itself.
China and Beijing split after a civil war in 1949, but Beijing claims the self-governed country as its own territory.
