(NewsNation) — Twenty U.S. defense companies and 10 executives from those firms have been sanctioned by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stemming from last week’s $11.1 billion sale of arms to Taiwan, the agency announced Friday.
Chinese officials allege the sale, which occurred last week, violates the one-China principle and the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques. They claim the large-scale arms sale severely interferes with China’s internal affairs and undermines its sovereign and territorial integrity.
In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the sanctions as countermeasures against the U.S. companies and senior managers. The sanctions freeze the companies’ assets in China and ban individuals and organizations from conducting business with those firms, the agency’s announcement stated.
Among the American firms sanctioned were L3 Harris Marine Services, Boeing in St. Louis, Northrop Grumman Services, Advanced Acoustics Concepts, Red Cat Holdings and Lazarus AI.
Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey is among the executives sanctioned by the Chinese government and is barred from entering the country or doing business there.
If approved by Congress, the deal would be the largest-ever U.S. weapons package to Taiwan, exceeding an $8.4 billion deal during the Biden administration.
“We stress once again that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a prepared statement Friday. “Any company or individual who engages in arms sales to Taiwan will pay the price for the wrongdoing.”
The sanctions are largely symbolic, the Wall Street Journal reported, as U.S. defense contractors typically do limited business with China. The report indicated the move is retaliatory after U.S. government officials approved the multibillion-dollar arms package, which includes HIMARS missile launchers, drones and howitzers designed to help Taiwan slow a Chinese attack.
The U.S. has sold arms to Taiwan for years under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which every U.S. administration has complied with since the agreement, according to the Wall Street Journal.