China’s foreign ministry has hit US defence companies, including Boeing, with sanctions after Donald Trump approved a large package of arms sales to Taiwan.
The ministry said on Friday that the measures – against 10 individuals and 20 US firms including Boeing’s production hub at St Louis in Missouri – freeze any assets the companies and individuals hold in China and bar domestic organisations and individuals from doing business with them.
It comes after the Trump administration last week announced a package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at more than $10bn, including medium-range missiles and drones. It was the largest-ever weapons sale in the history of the bilateral relationship.
China’s stance on Taiwan – which is that it must merge with the People’s Republic of China, something that the democratically governed Taipei rejects – has been a pinch-point in its relations with the US, already worn thin over trade and tariff issues.
Individuals on the Chinese sanctions list, including the founder of defence firm Anduril Industries and nine senior executives from the sanctioned firms, are also banned from entering China, it added.
Boeing produces fighter jets in St Louis, where more than 3,000 union workers went on strike over pay earlier this year. Other companies targeted by the sanctions included Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and L3Harris Maritime Services.
“The Taiwan issue is the core of China’s core interests and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
“Any provocative actions that cross the line on the Taiwan issue will be met with a strong response from China,” the statement added, urging the US to cease “dangerous” efforts to arm the island.
The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, although such arms sales are a persistent source of friction with China.
The eight arms agreements which comprised the total sale included 420 army tactical missile systems or Atacms. The systems are similar to those sent to Ukraine under the Biden administration for its defence against Russia.
The state department said at the time of the Taiwan arms sale that it served “US national, economic and security interests by supporting the recipient’s continuing efforts to modernise its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability”.
“The proposed sale[s] will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance and economic progress in the region,” various, similar statements issued on each of the agreements said.
Reuters contributed reporting
