China sanctions 20 US firms over Taiwan arms sales

BEIJING: 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 democratic island as part of its territory and refusing to rule out using force to bring it under control.

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 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.

Boeing and Northrop Grumman did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

China also sanctioned 10 industry executives, banning them from entering the country, including Hong Kong and Macau.