China to punish companies involved in US-Taiwan arms sales

Beijing - China on Sunday stepped up the rhetoric over the US decision to sell 6.4 billion dollars worth of weapons to Taiwan, saying that companies involved in the arms sales would also be punished. "China will also impose sanctions on the US companies involved in the arms sales to Taiwan", the Foreign Ministry said in a press release, reported by state media.

Companies which may be affected include Boeing and United Technologies, which both have significant business interests in China.

The move came after Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei made a formal protest to US Ambassador Jon Huntsman on Saturday, saying that the arms delivery would "severely disturb Sino-US relations".

It "constitutes a gross intervention into China's internal affairs", He was quoted as saying in a statement reported by the official Xinhua news agency.

The Chinese government also announced a partial freeze on mutual military exchanges with the US and on an upcoming vice-ministerial consultation on strategic security, arms control and anti- proliferation.

China argued that the arms sale would violate the three joint communiques between China and the US, particularly one in 1982 in which the US pledged to "gradually to reduce its sale of arms to Taiwan."

But while the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, the US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act at the same time, committing it to continue selling defensive arms to Taipei.

The US remains Taiwan's top weapons supplier, with the largest sale occurring in 1992, when president George HW Bush approved the sales of 150 F-16A/Bs to Taipei, worth 6 billion dollars.

China sees US arms sales to Taiwan as a main obstacle to achieving Taiwan's unification with mainland China, and has been pressuring Washington to halt arms sales to the island.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306769,china-to-punish-companies-involved-in-us-taiwan-arms-sales.html.