China on Friday said it has banned a number of business units of US aviation manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp and three of its executives over arms deals the company has signed with Taiwan.
A statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the company’s cooperation with Taiwan had violated its sovereignty, a standard terminology in its discussions of outside dealings that support the Taiwanese government.
The effects of the sanctions appeared largely symbolic since military cooperation between the US and China has been suspended since the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Beijing and other cities in 1989.
Photo: Reuters
Those sanctioned were Lockheed Martin Missile System Integration Lab, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories and Lockheed Martin Ventures. Meanwhile, company executives James Donald Taiclet, Frank Andrew St. John and Jesus Malave were banned from traveling to China.
China has been steadily growing its domestic aircraft industry, producing parts, planes and services for Airbus and producing its own commercial jets. Foreign technology has played a big part in that process, but Chinese companies have increasingly developed the means to replace their overseas suppliers.
Taiwan relies heavily on US suppliers for arms, even as it works to boost its own defense industries and increase mandatory military service for men from four months to one year. That comes against the backdrop of China’s rising threat of encircling or invading Taiwan to achieve what it calls “a historical mission to annex the island.”
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