China will sanction U.S. military contractor companies, including Lockheed Martin Corporation, over their arms sales with Taiwan, according to reports.
China’s newly announced retaliatory regulations add tension between the two countries concerning security and China’s strategic pursuits. Other companies facing sanctions include Raytheon Technologies and Boeing’s defense sphere, according to the Associated Press. (Trump Administration Moving Forward With New Missile, Drone Sales To Taiwan)
“As China pointed out on multiple occasions, the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan severely violate the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, and seriously undermine China’s sovereignty and security interests. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns it,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, according to a Monday press conference transcript.
Zhao said the pending sanctions on the companies and “U.S. individuals and entities who played an egregious role in the process” were “to uphold national interests,” according to the transcript.
#FMsays China has decided to impose sanctions on US entities participating in selling arms to Taiwan including Lockheed Martin, Boeing Defense and related individuals and entities that played a negative role during the sales process, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. pic.twitter.com/FOf6gM6YG7
— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) October 26, 2020
Zhao’s statment came as response to questions of what China is doing about State Department-approved arms sales to Taiwan valued at over $1 billion, according to the transcript. China called on the U.S. to stop the sale, which included more than 100 precision land attack missiles, a week ago, the AP reported.
The U.S. is law-bound to ensure the island nation can protect itself and numbers of arms sales has increased, the AP reported. The U.S. promised years ago to decrease and eventually end sales, saying the U.S.-China conflict needs to be resolved in a peaceful manner.
“Foreign Military Sales are government-to-government transactions and we work closely with the U.S. government on any military sales to international customers,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Lockheed Martin adheres to United States government policy with regard to conducting business with foreign governments. We do business with more than 70 nations around the world, and all of our international sales are strictly regulated by the U.S. government.”
“We will continue taking necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty and security interests,” Zhao said, according to the transcript.
“We have consistently conveyed to the Chinese government that the United States strongly objects to China’s attempts to coerce private firms. Our view has not changed,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement provided to the DCNF.
“We deplore Beijing’s efforts to retaliate against U.S. and foreign companies for their sales that support Taiwan’s legitimate self-defense requirements, the necessity of which has been made abundantly clear through increasingly hostile incursions by the PLAAF,” Ortagus continued in the statement.
UPDATE: This post has been updated to include State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus’ remarks in a statement to the DCNF.
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