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Teddy Ng

Beijing said on Friday it will issue sanctions against the US companies involved in the latest arms sale to Taiwan, as tensions between China and the United States continue to rise.
The foreign ministry said in a brief statement that the move by Washington had violated China’s territorial sovereignty and national security.
“To protect our national interest, China will impose sanctions on the US companies involved in the arms sale,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang was quoted as saying.
Beijing has made repeated calls to the US for it to stop engaging in military exchanges with Taiwan, with the latest remarks coming after Washington on Monday approved the sale of US$2.2 billion worth of military equipment to the self-ruled island.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on a visit to Budapest on Friday that the US should stop “playing with fire”.
“We urge the US to fully recognise the gravity of the Taiwan question … [and] not to play with fire on the question of Taiwan,” he told a news conference.
Taiwan won’t give in to Beijing as it seeks UN membership
The deal will do little to ease the tension between China and the US, which are embroiled in multiple disputes on a range of issues, from trade and technology to Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea.
Beijing last used the threat of sanctions to punish US firms in 2015, after Washington approved a US$1.83 billion arms deal with Taiwan, saying that its determination to protect its territorial integrity was unshakeable.

The latest deal includes 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, 250 Stinger missiles and related equipment.
The Defence Security Cooperation Agency, which handles US foreign arms sales, said the principal missile contractor would be Raytheon Missile Systems, and the prime contractor for the tanks would be General Dynamics Land Systems.
The deal is by far the most substantial since Donald Trump became US president in January 2017. Previous sales, announced in June 2017, September 2018 and April 2019, included training and maintenance/logistics support, as well as torpedoes, anti-radiation missiles and missile components. They were worth US$500 million, US$330 million and US$1.42 billion respectively.




Beijing’s sanctions announcement came after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen made a public appearance in New York on Thursday during a stopover en route to the Caribbean nations of Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and St Lucia.
At a reception at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office – the first of its kind ever hosted by a Taiwanese president – Tsai said the self-ruled island would not bend to pressure from Beijing to give up its ambition of joining the United Nations.
Her remarks were criticised by the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, whose spokesman Ma Xiaoguang accused her of using external powers to challenge the “one China” principle and threaten the stability of the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing considers Taiwan a wayward province awaiting reunification with the mainland fold, by force if necessary. It has become increasingly upset by American arms and strategic support for the island in countering Beijing’s military expansion since Trump became president.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Beijing to impose sanctions on US firms involved in US$2.2 billion Taiwan arms deal

The US arms deal with Taiwan includes 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks. Photo: Reuters

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Taiwan military personnel operate M110A2 self-propelled heavy artillery cannons during an annual live-firing drill in northern Hsinchu county on July 5, 2012. Taiwan media reports on June 25 said that Taiwan and the United States were soon expected to sign a military contract as part of the 5.8 billion USD arms sales that had irked rival China, but ties with Beijing have improved since Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008 on promises of ramping up trade and tourism links with China. AFP PHOTO / SAM YEH

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China

Diplomacy

Move necessary to ‘protect national interest’, foreign ministry says
Foreign Minister Wang Yi says US is ‘playing with fire’ by meddling in Taiwan affairs


Move necessary to ‘protect national interest’, foreign ministry says.


US-China relations

US-China trade war

Beijing to impose sanctions on US firms involved in US$2.2 billion Taiwan arms deal

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Move necessary to ‘protect national interest’, foreign ministry says Foreign Minister Wang Yi says US is ‘playing with fire’ by meddling in Taiwan affairs

Move necessary to ‘protect national interest’, foreign ministry says

Foreign Minister Wang Yi says US is ‘playing with fire’ by meddling in Taiwan affairs