China adds to sanctions of US defense contractors over Taiwan arms sales
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. China started the year with a broadside against U.S. defense contractors, responding to recently ramped-up Taiwan arms sales by the Biden administration and laying down a fresh warning to President-elect Donald Trump of tools Beijing can use to protect national interests.
Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday blacklisted 10 companies as “unreliable entities" barred from doing business in China and said it would block another 28 from buying unspecified components that could have dual civilian and military uses. Most of the defense contractors named have previously been sanctioned by China and have little trade with the country, unlike some of the hundreds of Chinese entities with U.S. operations targeted in punishments by Washington, such as Huawei Technologies.
While the immediate impact is likely minimal, the measures are important as symbolic reminders of the kind of measures China could level more broadly against American corporations in any future conflict. The ministry cited safeguarding national security in Thursday’s action and Xinhua News Agency said the targeted companies have engaged in military technology cooperation and arms sales with Taiwan in recent years, despite China’s strong opposition. Beijing’s claim to Taiwan is its pre-eminent source of friction with the U.S., and under leader Xi Jinping, China regularly flexes military muscle with jet fighters and warships that demonstrate how it might conduct an invasion or impose a trade embargo of the island.
In a New Year’s address, Xi issued a warning to the U.S. over Taiwan: “No one can ever sever the bond of kinship between us, and no one can ever stop China’s reunification, a trend of the times," he said. Despite
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