China Tuesday warned of sanctions against US firms involved in the multi-billion Dollar arms deal with Taiwan.
At a regular media briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu asked the American companies not to overlook the strong objections raised by Beijing on the issue.
"Some U.S. companies, which ignore the stern objections of the Chinese government and decide to sell weapons to Taiwan regardless, will face sanctions," Ma said.
He said the Obama administration's decision to go ahead with the arms sale to Taiwan would seriously undermine Sino-US ties. It posed a major threat to Beijing's core interests and would affect bilateral cooperation on several regional and international issues.
Ma did not specify the nature of sanctions or the areas of bilateral cooperation that would suffer as a result of the decision by the Obama administration.
Referring to the White House decision last Friday to greenlight the arms package worth $6.4 billion, Ma pointed out that it violated existing accords.
"Such a move gravely contravenes the three joint communiques between China and the United States, especially the August 17 Communique, and it also severely undermines China's national security and its peaceful reunification cause," he said.
The communique issued on August 17, 1982 by the then US administration headed by President Ronald Reagan promised not to engage in long-term weapon sales to Taiwan and also to slash arms sales to that country. Curiosly, an accord signed earlier between Washington and Taipei named 'The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act' stipulates that the United States "would provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character."
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.