China Threatens Sanctions in Response to U.S. Arms Package for Taiwan--Update
July 14 2020 - 9:15AM
Dow Jones News
By Chun Han Wong
HONG KONG -- China said it plans to sanction Lockheed Martin
Corp. over its role in a $620 million U.S. arms package for Taiwan,
Beijing's latest retaliatory gesture amid mounting pressure from
Washington.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian announced the
move on Tuesday as a response to the Trump administration's
decision last week to approve an upgrade package for Taiwan's
Patriot surface-to-air missiles.
"China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," Mr. Zhao said
at a routine news briefing Tuesday. "In order to safeguard national
interests, China has decided to undertake necessary measures and
impose sanctions on the main contractor for this sale, Lockheed
Martin."
China considers Taiwan a part of its territory and has refused
to rule out using force to gain control of the self-ruled island
democracy. Beijing repeatedly has criticized U.S. arms sales to
Taiwan as harmful to Chinese national sovereignty.
Mr. Zhao didn't give details about the sanctions. Lockheed
Martin, the world's largest defense company by sales, and the State
Department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The sanctions aren't expected to have major impact since U.S.
defense companies are broadly barred from making military sales to
China, though Lockheed Martin has sold civilian helicopters to
Chinese buyers through its Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. unit.
The announcement nevertheless continues a series of tit-for-tat
measures that have marked a souring of bilateral ties between China
and the U.S. over a long list of issues, including trade,
technology, human rights and territorial claims in the South China
Sea.
On Monday, China said it planned to impose "corresponding
sanctions" on several senior Republican Party figures in
retaliation for penalties that Washington imposed last week on
Chinese officials accused of carrying out human-rights abuses
against Turkic Muslims in the region of Xinjiang. In that case,
too, Beijing didn't provide details about the sanctions.
The U.S. is Taiwan's main arms supplier, though Washington
maintains formal diplomatic ties with Beijing rather than with
Taipei.
Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the U.S. is committed to
providing the island with defensive weaponry and obligated to treat
threats to Taiwan as a matter of "grave concern."
China's Communist Party has sought to bring Taiwan under its
control since Mao Zedong's forces seized power on the Chinese
mainland in 1949 and drove Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government
to retreat to the island.
The most recent U.S. arms package, announced by the U.S. Defense
Security Cooperation Agency on Thursday, includes upgrades,
logistics support and technical services for Taiwan's Patriot
air-defense missile systems. The agency identified Lockheed Martin
as the prime contractor for this deal.
"In light of China's recent escalation of military pressure in
the Taiwan Strait and throughout the region, this arms package will
further solidify Taiwan's high-altitude defense capabilities," a
Taiwan government spokesman said after the deal was approved.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the sale
supports Taiwan's "continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces
and to maintain a credible defensive capability," without altering
the "basic military balance in the region."
China has in recent months ramped up military operations near
and around Taiwan, in what Taiwanese authorities describe as
attempts to intimidate and put pressure on the island's
defenses.
Last month, Chinese warplanes flew near Taiwan on at least seven
occasions and were warned by Taiwanese fighters each time,
according to the island's defense ministry.
Write to Chun Han Wong at chunhan.wong@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 14, 2020 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)
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