Beijing sanctions 9 Pentagon contractors after US arms deal for Taiwan

The Chinese foreign ministry announced sanctions Wednesday on nine US defence contractors in retaliation for Washington’s approval of arms sales to Taiwan earlier this week.

“Weapons sales by the United States to China’s Taiwan region have seriously violated the one-China principle … seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and security interests, and damaged China-US relations,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters.

“China strongly condemns and firmly opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the United States,” Lin said.

He urged the US “to immediately stop the dangerous trend of arming Taiwan … stop conniving and supporting Taiwan independence, and stop undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.

Beijing was “taking resolute countermeasures”, he said, by imposing sanctions on the US firms.