China will sanction several U.S. defense contractors after the State Department approved a $1.8 billion arms sale to Taiwan.
Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, said Monday that Beijing will institute sanctions against Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon — as well as “relevant American individuals” associated with the sales.
“In order to safeguard national interests, China decided to impose sanctions on the American companies that were involved in arms sales to Taiwan,” Zhao said, according to the Associated Press. He did not indicate what the sanctions might entail or when they would go into effect.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress last week that the State Department approved the possible sale of 135 Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response missiles worth more than $1 billion, 11 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems M142 launchers for roughly $436 million, and six MS-110 reconnaissance pods for about $367 million dollars.
“This proposed sale serves U.S. national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency wrote. “The proposed sale will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, economic and progress in the region.”
Zhao said the sale “seriously undermined China’s sovereignty and security interests.”
The United States has no formal relationship with Taiwan’s government. Since 1949, mainland China has claimed sovereignty over the island country, even though it has not installed its own government there. In 1979, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which outlined substantial yet nondiplomatic relations with the island.
Earlier this month, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said that the island needed to “fortify itself” against a potential invasion from mainland China. “Taiwan needs to start looking at some asymmetric and anti-access area denial strategies,” O’Brien said. “And really fortify itself in a manner that would deter the Chinese from any sort of amphibious invasion or even a gray zone operation against them.”
After announcing the sanctions, Zhao called on the U.S. to “stop arms sales to Taiwan and stop any military interaction with Taiwan.”
“We will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty and security interests,” Zhao said.
