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 growing pressure from Washington.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian announced the move 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 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, said that discussions about sales to foreign governments are best addressed by the U.S. government. The State Department didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The sanctions are expected to have limited 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 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 State Department approved the sale.

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 14:14 ET (18:14 GMT)

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