Recently the US green light to arms sales of over $ 385 million and approved $ 571.3 million in defence support for Taiwan
China put sanctions on seven companies on Friday in reaction to the most recent US statements on military deliveries and help to Taiwan, an area that China deems as its own.
The decision has been made in connection with the latest approval of the annual defence budget for the U.S. government which a statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said over the recent period contains several negative provisions concerning China. That is why weapons and military equipment for Taiwan’s defence are mainly imported from the US.
China has protested that Taiwan is a part of its territory, and that Beijing has never relinquished threats to take the island by force. But Taiwan has a very stern stance about China’s sovereignty demand and Taiwan’s representative bluntly stated that only Taiwanese can decide about its future.
It is in this vein important to understand that by law the US is obligated to arm Taiwan with the tools to defend itself even though there is no official recognition of Taipei by Washington. Saying that China will work together with the US, the official also stressed the country’s commitment to the One-China policy and urged the US not to sell weapons to Taiwan while stating that Beijing will ‘do all it can’ to protect its ‘sovereign, security, and development interests.’
Despite China’s opposition to American arms supplies to Taiwan and its frequent placing of economic penalties on firms involved in a sale or shipment, Taipei continued to buy from the United States. The sanctions tend to be innocuous primarily because American defence companies do not supply weapons or other military hardware to China.
Of the companies that are being sanctioned are Insitu Inc., Hudson Technologies Co., Saronic Technologies, Inc., Raytheon Canada, Raytheon Australia, Aerkomm, Inc. and Oceaneering International Inc, the ministry noted. But it said that, “sanctioned individuals are relevant senior executives of the companies in question”, without identifying any.
If they have any property in China, then all will be seized; no organisation or person in China is allowed to deal with them in any way, it said.
“On Friday last week, President Joe Biden signed off on up to $571 million in Defence Department military goods and services and military education and training for Taiwan. In parallel to that, the Department of Defence notified that $295m worth of military equipment had been cleared for sale”.
A view of the Pentagon.
The latest US defence bill increases the Pentagon’s budget to $895 billion and focuses on money on a more aggressive strategy of China. It creates a fund that can be used to deliver military supplies to Taiwan in a similar manner to Russia in Ukraine support. But, except for this, it also extends a prohibition against the Pentagon buying Chinese products right from drone to garlic to the military commissaries.
China’s Defence Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said earlier this week that, in her words, the U.S. wanted to incite requests for China as a fictional threat to augment military spending.
Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defence
“The US delivers the highest military budget in the world, and it continues to rise each year,” he said in a press conference. “This fully expose the aggressor role of the U.S. and it’s never-ending desire for domination and territorial acquires.”
He said it was to express China’s strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to the United States’ actions, which have infringed upon the consensuses between the two countries on Taiwan affairs and meddled in China’s internal affairs, encroaching upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
*The views expressed are personal to the author and do not reflect the platform's opinion of the same.
© Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved Powered by Vygr Media.
About the author
Manish Kumar pursued a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Amity University, Haryana. He is an enthusiastic and dedicated writer, who has worked with several ministries of the Government of India and contributed his voice to major campaigns and programmes. Being devoted to practicing significant journalism, Manish does his best to become a voice of change in society. Not only does he tell but also persuades, which is indicative of his strong conviction in the perspective of media.
Author Picture:
