China imposes sanctions on US companies over weapons sales to Taiwan

Reportedly, China has targeted small to midsized American drone manufacturers and service providers in its sixth round of sanctions on US defence companies this year. Beijing has slapped sanctions on 13 US defence companies and six industry executives, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Among them are Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, developer of the low-cost XQ-58 Valkyrie combat drone, and Teledyne Brown Engineering, a defence solution subsidiary of industrial conglomerate Teledyne Technologies.

Beijing also imposed sanctions on Barbara Borgonovi and Gerard Hueber, president and vice-president of naval power at Raytheon, a major US defence company previously sanctioned by Beijing.

The list also included drone technology start-ups Firestorm Labs, Neros Technologies and HavocAI.

Lin Jian, a ministry spokesman, said the sanctions were a countermeasure for the “repeated announcement of arms sales to Taiwan”, which had seriously violated the one-China policy.

“We urge the United States to clearly recognize the serious danger that separatist acts of Taiwan independence pose to peace and security across the Taiwan Strait … and to stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan separatist forces,” he said.

From Thursday, the sanctioned entities’ assets in China will be frozen and they will be forbidden from any cooperation or transactions with Chinese organizations and individuals.

The sanctioned executives will also be prohibited from entering the country, including Hong Kong and Macau.

As cross-strait tensions have risen, Taiwan has increased its defence budget as well as its arms procurement from the United States. Unmanned platforms are believed to be a key asymmetric weapon that could help defend Taiwan in the event of a conflict with mainland China.

Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of China’s territory that must be reunified, by force if necessary, and is opposed to any official ties between the island and its diplomatic partners.

The United States, like most countries, does not consider Taiwan an independent country, but is committed to arming the self-ruled island and is opposed to any change in the status quo.

Song Zhongping, a military commentator and former People’s Liberation Army instructor, said Beijing had to take countermeasures as “drones bring a relatively bigger threat to mainland China”.

“These companies are related to drones and datalink technologies while their [products and services] are interrelated … so to sanction, you cannot just sanction one,” he said.

“That’s why the scope of sanctions is larger this time.”

Beijing has previously sanctioned US defence contractors including the missile and AI divisions of Lockheed Martin. In an earlier round of sanctions, it also targeted Anduril Industries, which has sold its multi-mission aerial vehicle Altius 600M-V to Taiwan.

The announcement came on the same day that Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te transited through Guam, a US territory and home to a key military base, after a stop in Hawaii this week.

Lai had a call with US House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, and called for collaboration during a speech at the Guam governor’s residence on Thursday, according to Taipei Times.

The US approved the latest arms sales deal with Taiwan – involving about US$385 million – last month.

Taiwan also signed contracts with the US to buy nearly 1,000 killer drones in October, valued at a total of NT$5.27 billion (US$162.4 million).