China sanctions two US firms, points to arms trade with Taiwan

BEIJING — China on Thursday announced rare sanctions against two U.S. defense companies over what it called their support for arms sales to Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy Beijing claims as its own territory to be recovered by force if necessary.

The announcement freezes the assets of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems held within China. It also bars the companies’ management from entering the country.

Filings show General Dynamics operates a half-dozen Gulfstream and jet aviation services operations in China, which remains heavily reliant on foreign aerospace technology even as it attempts to build its own presence in the field.

The company also helps make the Abrams tank being purchased by Taiwan to replace outdated armor intended to deter or resist an invasion from China.

General Atomics produces the Predator and Reaper drones used by the U.S. military. Chinese authorities did not go into details on the company’s alleged involvement with supplying arms to Taiwan.

Beijing has long threatened such sanctions, but has rarely issued them as its economy reels from the COVID-19 pandemic , high unemployment and a sharp decline in foreign investment.

“The continued U.S. arms sales to China’s Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, interfere in China’s internal affairs, and undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity ,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It insists that the mainland and the island to which Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces fled amid civil war in 1949 remain part of a single Chinese nation.

Sanctions were leveled under Beijing’s recently enacted Law of the People’s Republic of China on Countering Foreign Sanctions, aimed at retaliating against U.S. financial and travel restrictions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in mainland China and Hong Kong.

General Dynamics’ fully owned entities are registered in Hong Kong, the southern Chinese semi-autonomous city over which Beijing has steadily been increasing its political and economic control to the point that it faces no vocal opposition and has seen its critics silenced, imprisoned or forced into exile.

The two companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China has threatened action against foreign companies and governments that aid Taiwan’s defense and the U.S. military presence in the region , leading to commercial boycotts and diplomatic standoffs.

China banned American firms Lockheed Martin and Raytheon from the Chinese market in retaliation for the use of one of their planes and a missile to shoot down a suspected spy balloon that flew over the continental United States last year. Similar balloons have frequently been discovered floating over Taiwan and into the Pacific Ocean.

Despite their lack of formal diplomatic ties — a concession Washington made to Beijing when they established relations in 1979 — the U.S. remains Taiwan’s most important source of diplomatic support and supplier of military hardware from fighter jets to air defense systems.

Taiwan has also been investing heavily in its own defense industry, producing sophisticated missiles and submarines.

China had 14 warplanes and six naval vessels operating around Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, with six of the aircraft crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone — a tactic to test Taiwan’s defenses, wear down its capabilities and intimidate the population.

So far, that has had little effect, with the vast majority of the island’s 23 million people opposing political unification with China.

北京——中国周四宣布对两家美国国防公司实施罕见的制裁，理由是这两家公司支持向台湾出售武器。北京声称台湾是其领土的一部分，必要时将以武力收复。

该公告冻结了通用原子航空系统公司和通用动力陆地系统公司在中国的资产，并禁止这两家公司的管理人员入境中国。

文件显示，通用动力公司在中国运营着六家湾流飞机和喷气式飞机航空服务公司。尽管中国正努力在该领域建立自己的地位，但仍然严重依赖外国航空航天技术。

该公司还参与制造台湾购买的艾布拉姆斯坦克，以替换过时的装甲车辆，旨在阻止或抵抗中国的入侵。

通用原子公司生产美国军方使用的“捕食者”和“死神”无人机。中国当局没有详细说明该公司涉嫌向台湾提供武器一事。

北京长期以来一直威胁要实施此类制裁，但由于其经济受到新冠肺炎疫情、高失业率和外国投资急剧下降的冲击，因此很少实施制裁。

中国外交部在一份声明中表示：“美国继续向中国台湾地区出售武器，严重违反一个中国原则和中美三个联合公报的规定，干涉中国内政，损害中国主权和领土完整。”

它坚持认为，大陆和蒋介石的国民党军队在1949年内战期间逃往的岛屿仍然是同一个中华民族的一部分。

制裁是根据北京最近颁布的《中华人民共和国反外国制裁法》实施的，旨在报复美国对被指控在中国大陆和香港侵犯人权的中国官员实施的金融和旅行限制。

通用动力公司的全资子公司均注册于香港。香港是中国南部的一个半自治城市，北京一直在稳步加强对香港的政治和经济控制，以至于香港方面没有遇到任何公开的反对声音，而批评者则被噤声、监禁或被迫流亡。

两家公司均未立即回应置评请求。

中国威胁要对援助台湾防务和美国在该地区军事存在的外国公司和政府采取行动，导致商业抵制和外交僵局。

为报复美国洛克希德·马丁公司和雷神公司去年使用其飞机和导弹击落飞越美国大陆的疑似间谍气球，中国禁止这两家美国公司进入中国市场。类似的气球也经常被发现漂浮在台湾上空和太平洋中。

尽管美台之间没有正式的外交关系——这是华盛顿在1979年与北京建交时做出的让步——但美国仍然是台湾最重要的外交支持来源和军事装备供应商，从战斗机到防空系统，应有尽有。

台湾也一直在大力投资本国国防工业，生产先进的导弹和潜艇。

周三和周四，中国有14架战机和6艘海军舰艇在台湾附近活动，其中6架战机进入台湾防空识别区——这是测试台湾防御能力、削弱其防御能力和恐吓台湾民众的一种策略。

到目前为止，这种做法收效甚微，岛上 2300 万人口中的绝大多数都反对与中国进行政治统一。