BEIJING: China has barred the senior executives of two U.S. defence firms from entering the country and frozen their property in response to their weapons sales to Taiwan, said the foreign ministry on Thursday.
The measures effective from April 11, were against General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which makes unmanned aerial systems, and military vehicle maker General Dynamics Land Systems, a unit of General Dynamics.
China said the arms sales amounts to serious interference in its internal matters and violates its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It added the continued arms sale by the United States to China’s Taiwan is a serious violation of the one-China principle.
Beijing said it has frozen the companies’ properties in China and barred their senior executives from entering the country.
China, last year, imposed sanctions against U.S. aerospace and defence companies Northrop Grumman (NOC.N)
China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been staging regular drills around the island for the past four years, to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing’s sovereignty claim.
The United States is holding a series of security discussions with several nations this week.
The U.S, Britain and Australia, under the AUKUS security agreement, talked about cooperation with Japan, while the U.S. separately announced to change military command posture in Japan to counter Chinese pressure.
