The Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced sanctions on five American defense manufacturers in response to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
“As countermeasures against U.S.' arms sales to China's Taiwan region and the country's sanctions on Chinese entities, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday that China has decided to impose sanctions on five U.S. defense companies, including freezing movable and immovable assets and other types of property held within China, as well as prohibiting organizations and individuals within China from engaging in transactions, cooperation, and other activities with these companies.
The moves are seen by Chinese observers as upgraded countermeasures against U.S.' provocative moves on the Taiwan question, and show that China's tolerance of U.S. arming up island of Taiwan is wearing thin. Experts believe the latest tussle between China and the U.S. over arms sales to Taiwan before island's regional leader election also sends a warning signal to the U.S. that it should stop daydreaming that it can escape any consequences when provoking on the Taiwan question, and that China will take strong countermeasures over any provocative moves on this sensitive question.
Citing a Pentagon release last month, Reuters reported that the U.S. State Department has approved a $300 million sale of equipment to help maintain the island of Taiwan's tactical information systems.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency confirmed that the sale was for follow-on life cycle support to maintain the island of Taiwan's Command, Control, Communications and Computers, or C4, capabilities, while the defense authority on the island claimed that the sale would help maintain the effectiveness of its joint combat command and control systems so that it can improve battlefield awareness, Reuters reported.
Last year, China added two major US defense contractors Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Missiles & Defense to its unreliable entities list and imposed several sanctions, including a ban on trade activities related to China and huge fines, against the firms for participating in arms sales to the island of Taiwan.
In the long run, the U.S. has been escalating its arms sales to island of Taiwan, and China has been gradually and systematically hitting back, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.
Previously, China slapped sanctions on Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Missiles & Defense, the next step is to expand the list to include some less-known defense companies, and Xin believes the list may continue to expand. It sends a warning to U.S. defense companies to exercise restraint and refrain from actively lobbying and promoting [arms sales to Taiwan island], and reminds the U.S. government to restrain from frequently and massively promoting the sale of advanced weapons and equipment to Taiwan, said Xin.
China's sanctions on U.S. firms in recent years shows that China's tolerance of U.S. arming up island of Taiwan is wearing thin, as the U.S. real intention is to obstruct the peaceful reunification of China and sabotage peace and stability of Taiwan Straits, Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Chinese experts said that hopefully this round of sanctions against U.S. firms should make the U.S. side understand that any provocative moves on the Taiwan question will inevitably be met with firm countermeasures”. -Global Times
China’s move toward embracing punitive actions in response to the United States' ongoing unilateral sanctions on Chinese officials and companies, as well as the recent $300 million arms package to boost Taipei's defense capabilities, may prove to be a much smoother course of action for Beijing than it’s been for Washington, D.C., especially after the upcoming Taiwanese elections when a presumably more Chinese-friendly government assumes power.