BEIJING (Xinhua/Reuters) – China has decided to impose sanctions on two senior executives of American firms involved in the latest U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, to defend China’s national sovereignty and security interests, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday.
The Chinese government has decided to impose sanctions on Gregory Hayes, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Technologies Corporation, and Theodore Colbert III, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Mao said.
The U.S. arms sales to China’s Taiwan region seriously violate the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, particularly the August 17 Communiqué. Such moves have severely undermined China’s sovereignty and security interests, as well as China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Mao said.
“China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the arms sales,” she told a daily press briefing.
Mao said that China once again urges the U.S. government and relevant parties to abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, cease arms sales to Taiwan and military contact with Taiwan, and stop creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
China will continue to take all necessary measures to firmly defend its own sovereignty and security interests in light of the development of the situation, she said.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called on Russia and other members of a regional grouping to support each other in preventing foreign powers from instigating “color revolutions” - popular uprisings that have shaken former Communist nations - in their countries.
Speaking in Uzbekistan at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a security grouping led by China and Russia, Xi said member countries should support the efforts each other have made to safeguard their own security and development interests.
Xi also said that China will train 2,000 law enforcement personnel from member countries over the next five years and set up a training base focusing on anti-terrorism work.
He invited member countries to sign up to China’s Global Security Initiative, a concept he proposed in April which includes the idea that no country should strengthen its own security at the expense of others.
China will provide 1.5 billion yuan ($214 million) worth of grain and other emergency aid to developing countries, Xi said, adding that the Chinese economy is resilient and “full of potential”.
China’s economy narrowly escaped a contraction in the April-to-June quarter, hobbled by COVID-19 lockdowns of cities, a deepening downturn in the property market and persistently soft consumer spending.