China puts sanctions on US defense firms, execs

China announced on Friday that it would take countermeasures against 20 United States military-related companies and 10 senior executives who have engaged in arming Taiwan in recent years, in response to Washington's latest large-scale arms sales package to the region.

The countermeasures include freezing the movable and immovable properties, and other kinds of assets of those companies and the senior executives within China, prohibiting organizations and individuals in China from engaging in transactions, cooperation and other activities with them, and barring the executives from entering China — including the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The 20 companies targeted for countermeasures include Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, L3Harris Maritime Services and Boeing in St. Louis.

The 10 individuals on the list include Palmer Luckey, the founder of defense firm Anduril Industries and John Cantillon, vice-president of L3Harris Technologies.

The countermeasures are in accordance with the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, the ministry said in an online statement.

The US State Department announced last Wednesday a massive package of arms sales to the Taiwan region valued at more than $10 billion including medium-range missiles, howitzers and drones.

The deal, if approved by the US Congress, would mark the largest-ever American weapons package to Taiwan.

The Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core interests and is the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations, a spokesperson stressed in the statement.

The spokesperson said that anyone who attempts to cross the line and make provocations on the Taiwan question will be met with China's firm response.

Any company or individual who engages in arms sales to Taiwan will pay the price for the wrongdoing, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson urged the US to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and act on the commitment of the US leader.

Washington should stop the dangerous moves of arming Taiwan, stop undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and stop sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, the spokesperson said.

China will continue to take resolute measures to firmly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, the spokesperson added.

Zhuo Hua, an expert from the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that on the one hand, the US is squeezing Taiwan's economy to serve the interests of the US military-industrial complex.

On the other hand, it is arming Taiwan to contain the Chinese mainland, in an attempt to maintain the US military's so-called absolute superiority in the Asia-Pacific and to exert diplomatic pressure against China at any time, Zhuo said in a recent interview with Global Times.

zhoujin@chinadaily.com.cn