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Five American and British defence companies have been sanctioned by the People’s Republic of China for alleged arms sales to Taiwan (the Republic of China).
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BAE Systems Land & Armaments, Alliant Techsystems Operations, AeroVironment, Viasat, and Data Link Solutions have all been listed under the new sanctions announced by the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 7 January.
The sanctions prohibit organisations and individuals in China from transacting or cooperating with the companies, as well as freezing movable and immovable company property in China.
A PRC foreign ministry spokesperson said the sanctions were announced following a $300 million US sale of communications and defence equipment to upgrade Taiwan’s tactical information systems.
“The US arms sales to China’s Taiwan region in blatant violation of the One-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués, particularly the August 17 joint communiqué of 1982,” the spokesperson said.
“The illegal unilateral sanctions the US has imposed on Chinese companies and individuals under various false pretexts seriously harm China’s sovereignty and security interests, undermine the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and violate the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made solemn démarches to the US.
“In response to these gravely wrong actions taken by the US and in accordance with China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, China has decided to sanction five US defence industry companies, namely BAE Systems Land and Armament, Alliant Techsystems Operation, AeroVironment, ViaSat and Data Link Solutions.
“I would like to stress that the Chinese government remains unwavering in our resolve to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity and protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and citizens.
“We urge the United States to abide by the One China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, observe international law and the basic norms governing international relations, stop arming Taiwan, and stop targeting China with illegal unilateral sanctions. Otherwise, there will be strong and resolute response from China.”
Senior military officials from the United States and PRC recently ended two days of talks in Washington earlier this week, the first “Defense Policy Coordination Talks” held between both leadership in more than two years.
The talks reportedly discussed maintaining military-to-military communications, as well as aircraft intercepts and confrontation between Chinese and Philippine ships in the South China Sea.
Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, General Liu Zhenli also attended a video call with General Charles Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military, on 21 December last year.
