The government and Chinese companies will cut business ties with US firms selling arms to Taiwan, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, declining to give details of the sanctions in a move likely to worsen already poor ties with Washington.
Last week, the Pentagon said the US Department of State had approved the sale of the weapons requested by Taiwan, including 108 General Dynamics Corp M1A2T Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, which are manufactured by Raytheon.
The latest deal involves US$2.2 billion of tanks, missiles and related equipment for Taiwan.
China on Friday said that it would sanction US companies selling weapons to Taiwan, but did not elaborate.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) said the arms sales were a violation of international law and harmed China’s sovereignty and national security.
“China’s government and Chinese companies will not cooperate or have commercial contacts with these US companies,” he told a daily news briefing in Beijing. “I can’t reveal the details at the moment, but believe this — Chinese people always stress standing by their word.”
The Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily on Sunday posted an article on its WeChat account identifying US companies that could be vulnerable to sanctions.
They included Honeywell International, which makes the engines for the Abrams tanks, and private jet maker Gulfstream Aerospace, which is owned by General Dynamics.
China is an important market for both Honeywell and Gulfstream.
China has said it would sanction US companies selling weapons to Taiwan before — in 2010 and 2015 — but it is unclear if the sanctions were ever imposed.
US defense contractors have been barred from dealings with Beijing since the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.
In related news, the US House of Representatives voted to support the US$2.2 billion arms sale as a message to Beijing: “Don’t mess with Taiwan,” House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Michael McCaul told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
After host Maria Bartiromo introduced McCaul as “one of the lawmakers to meet with the Taiwanese president,” she asked him about his discussions with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in New York City.
China is increasingly aggressive in Taiwan and Tsai told him that Beijing is likely to interfere in Taiwan’s next presidential election with the aim of installing a “Chinese puppet,” McCaul replied.
In the 1990s, Chinese intelligence officials gave funds to then-US president Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign via a state-owned aerospace company, McCaul said, adding that Beijing has been interfering in elections for a long time and it is “hitting a hot spot right now.”
“We have to support Taiwan. They stand for freedom and democracy in the region, and that is precisely why chairman [Eliot] Engel and I approved the military sales to Taiwan of US$2.2 billion, so Taiwan can protect themselves from China,” McCaul said.
The sale of Javelin missiles, Abrams tanks and grenades are “very self-defense in posture, but it sends a very strong message to China,” he said.
“As I said to [the Taiwanese] convention Friday night, we say, do not mess with Texas. Do not mess with Taiwan,” he added.
“We are going to arm Taiwan, so she can defend herself from what has become a very aggressive Chinese Communist Party right on their doorstep,” he said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan and Jonathan Chin
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source