BEIJING (Reuters) – China has banned the heads of two U.S. defense companies from entering its territory and frozen their assets in retaliation for their arms sales to Taiwan, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
These measures, which came into force on Thursday, concern General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which manufactures unmanned aerial systems, and the military vehicle manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems, a subsidiary of the General Dynamics group.
According to Beijing, these companies’ arms sales to Taiwan “seriously interfere” in its internal affairs and “undermine” its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has not ruled out using force to bring the island back into its fold.
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“The continued arms sales by the United States to China’s Taiwan region constitute a serious violation of the one-China principle,” according to the Chinese ministry.
Beijing also claims to have frozen the assets of the two companies in China and banned their executives from entering the country.
The two companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China has already imposed sanctions in 2023 against US aerospace and defense companies Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, also for supplying weapons to Taiwan.
China has regularly organized military maneuvers around the island of Taiwan for four years, in order to put pressure on Taipei to comply with its desire for reunification.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing bureau; French version Diana Mandiá, editing by Sophie Louet)
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