Flip the Table: China Sanctions US Companies

Taiwan Presidential Election in 6 Days

Chinese are known for their patience and long-term planning, but one can only take being lied to only so much, and that’s what’s happened. Stated Outlaw US Empire policy recognizes that Taiwan is part of China—the One China Principle—which means that all UN rules apply to how relations are to be conducted. For example, selling arms directly to Taiwan without China’s consent violates the policy and the international law the Empire signed up to obey, and not for the first time by any means. The title of this Global Times editorial shows the level of ire reached, “Beijing will act more swiftly, accurately, powerfully to strike those arming Taiwan painfully.”

How much leeway do you give to serial prevaricators that you just can’t avoid? If a co-worker tells tall tales but performs his/her job properly, then that can be dealt with by ignoring the tall tales. But this isn’t anything near that sort of innocent case. What follows is that editorial so the reader can judge just how miffed China is and what it’s decided to do about the issue:

In response to the new round of US arms sales to China's Taiwan region and various sanctions imposed on Chinese companies and individuals under various pretexts, Beijing has introduced countermeasures. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday that China has decided to impose sanctions on five US defense companies. The countermeasures consist of freezing the properties of those companies in China, including their movable and immovable property, and prohibiting organizations and individuals in China from transactions and cooperation with them. This means that a world-class market is closing its doors to them. In addition to suffering direct losses, they have been left with a permanent stain on their records in China. Losing the opportunity to cooperate and develop in the future with the mainland market is definitely not a trivial matter for any business company.

Arms sales to Taiwan are one of the most direct, deplorable and dangerous ways for the US to intervene in the Taiwan question and are a concentrated manifestation of the US' violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués. Over the past 45 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US, the US has periodically launched rounds of arms sales to Taiwan, totaling over 100 rounds to date. These sales have become a "severe illness" that irregularly strikes and seriously undermines the health and stability of China-US relations. In recent years, the incidence of this disease caused by the US has increased significantly, and the symptoms have worsened. The weapons sold to Taiwan are not only expanding in scale, but also constantly surpassing performance limitations and becoming more aggressive. The pace of the US' "arming Taiwan" strategy through arms sales is obviously accelerating, posing a great threat to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits.

The most recent arms sale by the US to Taiwan was announced in December, and it is a $300 million sale of equipment to help maintain Taiwan's tactical information systems. One month before that arms sale, the heads of state of China and the US had just met in San Francisco in November. During the meeting, China asked the US side to reflect [in] its statement that it does not support 'Taiwan independence' in specific actions and stop arming Taiwan. The US, for its part, reaffirmed the US government's long-standing one-China policy, and stated that the US does not support "Taiwan independence." Just a month later, with the promise made at the summit still ringing in our ears, the US approved a new round of arms sales to China's Taiwan region. This not only reflects its failure to keep its words, but also reveals its usual face of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and undermining regional peace.

Beijing strongly opposes the US arms sales to Taiwan. It needs to be emphasized that this opposition will not only remain in words. China's capabilities to strike substantive countermeasures are continuously strengthening, measures are constantly improving, and the countermeasures are becoming faster, more precise and powerful. Compared to the previously sanctioned Lockheed Martin and Raytheon missile and defense companies, the five military-industrial enterprises sanctioned this time are not well-known, but they have also been targeted and sanctioned by us, reflecting the precision of China's countermeasures. Making all entities that harm China's national interests pay the price has become an integral part of China's national deterrence. China will continue to develop its capabilities and means to inflict pain on them. 

The reason why the US is unwilling to give up arms sales to Taiwan is because it does not want to give up its means of interfering in the Taiwan Straits. The US strengthens arms sales to Taiwan in a unilateral attempt to narrow the military power gap between the two sides of the straits and even establish a so-called balance. However, this is wishful thinking. The mainland's overwhelming military advantage over Taiwan is irreversible. If Taiwan island is truly turned into a "porcupine," it will inevitably put the people on the island in danger and dim the hope for peaceful reunification. The pace of achieving reunification is bound to accelerate. The ultimate reunification of the two sides of the straits is an irresistible trend, and any attempt to obstruct it will not succeed.

The Taiwan authorities spend a significant amount of money each year on purchasing weapons from the US, which only gives a false sense of comfort and encouragement to the "Taiwan independence" forces. This money could have been used for improving Taiwan residents' livelihoods. A Chinese character meaning "shortage" won the accolade for character of the year 2023 in Taiwan, followed by the characters "egg" and "scam" in second and third place. Taiwan lacks water, electricity, labor, land, talent, medicine, and eggs... but not weapons and fraudsters. What the Taiwan island truly needs is not provided by the US, while what it does not need is being offered.

Opposing "Taiwan independence" is a solemn commitment made by the US to China, but selling weapons to Taiwan sends the wrong signal to the "Taiwan independence" forces, ultimately providing support and encouragement to them. As long as the US continues arms sales to Taiwan, the desire for "Taiwan independence" will persist. This has become a dark transaction between the Democratic Progressive Party's "selling out Taiwan" and the US' actions of "harming Taiwan" and "destroying Taiwan."

And with Taiwan’s presidential elections slated to occur in just six days, the economic issue will be big as Taiwan does have problems. This wiki page provides a basic synopsis of the election. As the concluding sentence shows, there’s also a distinct political message sent to Taiwanese—if you want peace, unification, and harmony, then don’t vote for DPP. China will now find it much easier to impose sanctions now that it’s done so several times. Will they make the Empire alter its policy? Doubtful.

Another Global Times item provides further analysis:

The moves are seen by Chinese observers as upgraded countermeasures against US' provocative moves on the Taiwan question, and show that China's tolerance of US arming up island of Taiwan is wearing thin. Experts believe the latest tussle between China and the US over arms sales to Taiwan before island's regional leader election also sends a warning signal to the US that it should stop daydreaming that it can escape any consequences when provoking on the Taiwan question, and that China will take strong countermeasures over any provocative moves on this sensitive question….

 In a statement that Chinese Foreign Ministry released on Sunday, it said "The US arms sales to China's Taiwan region in blatant violation of the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués, particularly the August 17 joint communiqué of 1982, and the illegal unilateral sanctions the US has imposed on Chinese companies and individuals under various false pretexts seriously harm China's sovereignty and security interests, undermine the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, and violate the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies and individuals. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has made solemn démarches to the US."

"In response to these gravely wrong actions taken by the US and in accordance with China's Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, China has decided to sanction five US defense industry companies, namely BAE Systems Land and Armament, Alliant Techsystems Operation, AeroVironment, ViaSat and Data Link Solutions. The countermeasures consist of freezing the properties of those companies in China, including their movable and immovable property, and prohibiting organizations and individuals in China from transactions and cooperation with them," said the ministry.

Lü Xiang, research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times the following:

[T]he latest arms sales include C4 systems consisting of a series of equipment and software that can enhance data processing capability of the armed forces on the island of Taiwan. "Such equipment are not simply to equip Taiwan with better weapons, but also upgrade the island's intelligent sharing capacities with the US. This move is of high sensitivity and more destructive. Thus China must take a harsher step in response to the US' dangerous moves."

It’s the lying stupid:

Chinese observers said the US' latest arms sales is sending a wrong signal to Taiwan secessionists forces ahead of the upcoming regional leader election on the island in January 2024. Moreover, it came just about one month after the meeting between the two heads of state of China and the US in San Francisco in November 2023, during which Biden said the US does not support "Taiwan independence" and has no intention to have a conflict with China.

Another wrong signal the US has sent to the island of Taiwan before its regional leader election can be seen in a report by The New York Times last month, which revealed US' military training in the Hawaiian jungle that instructs troops on the skills needed for a potential clash with China over locations including the island of Taiwan.

In recent weeks, Western media has been hyping that the election would pose a test of "steady" China-US ties. For example, Reuters reported on Friday that the upcoming Taiwan's regional leader election represents the "first real wild card in 2024 for the Biden administration's goal of stabilizing ties with China."

Lü believes that political forces within the island of Taiwan won't be able to sway the overall situation, and what China needs to prepare for is the collusion between Taiwan secessionists and US forces. The latest strong countermeasures against US arms sales to the island aim to warn Taiwan secessionists that relying on US support will only lead to a dead end, and that China will do whatever its needs in order to realize reunification, he noted. [My Emphasis]

Reuters has it somewhat wrong as the test is actually Biden’s first for the 2024 election, and Team Biden’s actions clearly aren’t aimed at “stabilizing ties with China.” As the editorial reports, this makes over 100 illegal weapons sales to Taiwan—illegal because they violate China’s sovereignty, importation, and many other laws. It’s 100% continuity of longstanding Outlaw US Empire policy that China has had beyond enough of. And with the Empire engaged on so many other fronts, China will harden. The election results will have a major effect.

*
*
*
Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a monthly/yearly pledge to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!