By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Wednesday imposed sanctions on at least nine US firms for weapons and arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing considers its own “breakaway province.”
The US has announced that it would “sell weapons to the Taiwan region of China, which seriously violated the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiques,” said the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a statement.
It added that Washington’s arms sales to Taipei “seriously interfered in China's internal affairs, and seriously damaged China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The US State Department on Monday approved the sale of return, repair, and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment to Taiwan.
It is the 16th arms sale, worth $228 million, to Taiwan since the US' Biden administration was inaugurated in 2021.
China said it will freeze assets, as well as ban transactions and cooperation with Chinese organizations and individuals by US firms, including Sierra Nevada Corporation, Stick Rudder Enterprises LLC, Cubic Corporation, S3 AeroDefense, TCOM, TextOre, Planate Management Group, ACT1 Federal, and Exovera.