JEFF PAO
China has vowed to sanction Lockheed Martin, the world’s and America’s largest defense contractor, for a fifth time after Washington approved on December 16 a US$300 million arms deal that will link Taiwan’s tactical information system with that of NATO allies.
The new system will help improve Taiwan’s command, control, communications and computer (C4) capabilities and enhance operational readiness to meet current and future threats, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
The arms sale was the 12th to Taiwan since US President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.
Beijing has fired four rounds of countermeasures against Lockheed since July 2020, including placing it on an “unreliable entities list,” ordering the defense firm to pay fines equivalent to twice the amount of its arms sales to Taiwan in recent years, and banning the company’s executives and staff from entering China.
After the US government approved Lockheed and Northrop Grumman’s arms sale to Taiwan on August 24 this year, both companies were sanctioned by Beijing on September 15, though the Chinese government did not specify the terms of the curbs at the time.
“It is true that both Lockheed and Northrop Grumman do not have a lot of direct businesses in China. But it does not mean that our sanctions against them are meaningless,” a Shaanxi-based writer using the pen name “Qiaofeng” says in an article. “Their affiliated companies are involved in many fields such as aircraft, energy and electronics in China.”
The writer says the curbs send a message to the international community that China opposes all forms of foreign interference and has the determination to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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