Jon Lavigne
China announced to punish three US defense corporations involved in selling weapons to Taiwan, but this measure is nearly impossible to apply.
"In order to protect our national interests, China has decided to impose sanctions on US companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing Defense and Raytheon, as well as individuals and companies that commit malicious acts in the sale process.
The US HIMARS system opened fire during a maneuver in California in 2017 Photo: US Army
The move comes after the US State Department approved the sale of weapons over 1.8 billion USD to Taiwan, including 135 AGM-84H SLAM-ER land-to-ground cruise missiles, 11 jet artillery complexes.
China has always considered Taiwan a part of territory awaiting reunification, even by force if necessary.
Mr. Trieu Lap Kien did not give details about the measures or the time to implement the sanctions against US arms corporations.
However, many experts believe that Beijing's sanctions statements are only intended to show opposition to Washington's sale of weapons to Taipei, making it difficult to really affect the operations of US defense corporations.
Lockheed Martin Group sells civilian helicopters to Chinese customers through its subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft, while China is also a key market for Boeing civilian aircraft.
Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense conglomerate by sales, said its presence in China is quite limited.
Sikorsky S-76D helicopters in the service of the Ministry of Transport of China Photo: Jetphotos
Boeing and Raytheon affirmed their commitment to commercial cooperation agreements with China, one of the largest civil aircraft markets in the world.
State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus said Beijing's actions were "not constructive" and insisted the arms sales "support the legitimate claim of Taipei".
The Taiwanese diplomatic service expressed regret over China's decision to impose sanctions.
Just hours after Zhao's speech, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the US State Department had approved a contract to sell to Taiwan 100 Harpoon coastal defense systems, with
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Uong Van Ban later announced that the country would "take all necessary measures to maintain sovereignty and security interests", but did not elaborate.
