China Blacklists US Firms Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Over Taiwan Arms Sales

By Staff, Agencies

China imposed trading and investment sanctions on American aerospace manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies over arms sales to Chinese Taipei [Taiwan].

In a statement on Thursday, China's Ministry of Commerce announced the measures, saying the two firms were added to the “unreliable entities list” of companies. They are banned from export and import activities related to China. It said the restrictive measures were implemented because the two companies might endanger what it called “national sovereignty,” security or development interests.

In September 2022, Raytheon Missiles and Defense, which is a part of Raytheon Technologies Corp., was awarded a $412-million contract to upgrade Taiwanese military radar as part of a $1.1-billion package of US arms sales to the island.

Lockheed Martin, for its part, has supplied Taiwan’s military with radar, helicopters and air traffic control equipment. The US firm plays a role in Taipei's development of its own fighter jets and navy frigates.

In February 2022, Beijing imposed sanctions on the two companies over a $100-million arms sale to Taiwan.

Now, the two companies are banned from further investment in China and its senior managers are barred from entering the country.

Neither Lockheed Martin nor Raytheon Technologies sells military products to China.

On Wednesday, Beijing warned "countermeasures against relevant US entities that undermine China's sovereignty and security."

On February 11, a US military fighter jet brought down a suspected Chinese "spy" balloon off the coast of South Carolina, fueling tensions between the arch-foes. The United States alleged the unmanned balloon was designed to detect and collect intelligence signals, but China insisted it was used for meteorological and other scientific purposes and had strayed into US airspace accidentally. A day later, US military fighter jets shot down an octagonal flying object over Lake Huron, Canada, the Pentagon said, with many pointing the finger at China. Media reports said it was the fourth flying object to be shot down over North America by a US missile in a little more than a week.

Lockheed makes the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, which shot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon, using the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile made by Raytheon.

The balloon incident deteriorated the already strained diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing.

China has sovereignty over Chinese Taipei, and under the ‘One China’ policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.

The US, which backs Taipei's secessionist president, also continues to sell weapons to the self-ruled island in defiance of Beijing and in violation of its own official policy.

Washington is Taipei’s main supplier of military equipment.