China Slaps Symbolic Sanctions On US Firms Over Taiwan Arms Sale
The State Department said last week that Washington has approved a package worth up to $11 billion for Taiwan covering equipment including missiles, drones and artillery systems.
China announced largely symbolic sanctions against 20 US defense companies and 10 executives, signaling its anger over Washington’s latest arms sales to Taiwan while stopping short of a broader escalation.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday it would sanction companies including Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., L3Harris Maritime Services, Boeing’s operations in St. Louis, as well as Vantor, formerly known as Maxar Intelligence. The measures include freezing any assets the companies hold in China and banning them from doing business with Chinese entities.
China is also targeting executives at defense companies, including Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries Inc., and Vantor Chief Executive Officer Dan Smoot, freezing their assets in China and barring dealings and entry to the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
The sanctions follow what Beijing described as “large-scale” US arms sales to Taiwan. The State Department said last week that Washington has approved a package worth up to $11 billion — one of its largest ever for the island — covering equipment including missiles, drones and artillery systems.
“Any provocative actions that cross the line on the Taiwan issue will be met with a forceful response from China,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an accompanying statement on Friday. “Any enterprise or individual involved in arms sales to Taiwan will pay the price for their misguided actions.”
Limited Impact
In reality the impact of the measures is likely to be limited. Most of the companies and executives targeted have little or no presence in China, and some were already placed on the Commerce Ministry’s unreliable entity list.
China views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must ultimately be brought under its control, by force if necessary — a position Taipei firmly rejects. Since President Lai Ching-te took office in May 2024, Beijing has stepped up military pressure on the self-governing island of 23 million people.
The issue continues to loom large in US-China relations. In a phone call last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump that Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order.”
Nevertheless, Beijing and Washington have sought to steady ties. They agreed to a one-year truce in their trade dispute, under which China ensures US access to rare earths vital to industries ranging from smartphones to missile systems, while the US lowers tariffs on Chinese goods.
