© YinYang/Getty ImagesUS military cargo transport plane C-17
Beijing has imposed sanctions on seven US defense companies and their executives in response to Washington's sale of arms to Taiwan in violation of the One-China principle, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.
The move comes after outgoing US President Joe Biden last week authorized a $571.3 million military aid package to Taiwan.
Washington's actions "interfere in China's internal affairs, and undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said as it announced the restrictions.
The companies targeted by the sanctions include Insitu Inc., Hudson Technologies Co., Saronic Technologies, Inc., Raytheon Canada, Raytheon Australia, Aerkomm Inc., and Oceaneering International Inc.
The ministry said "relevant senior executives" of the companies had also been blacklisted, without providing any names.
The sanctions will freeze "movable and immovable" assets belonging to US firms and their executives within China, and ban organizations and individuals in the country from trading or collaborating with them, the ministry stated.
The restrictions, which will contribute to already strained relations between Beijing and Washington, were announced after Biden approved a record $895 billion defense budget, which surpassed last year's allocation by $9 billion.
The bill does not refer to Ukraine aid, however, it contains measures aimed at strengthening the US presence and defense capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region, primarily to "counter China." Beijing has already condemned the bill, citing its "negative content on China" and attempts to play up the 'China threat' narrative.
Beijing has repeatedly stressed that it considers the self-governing island of Taiwan to be an inalienable part of the country under the One-China principle. It has denounced Washington's arms sales to Taipei, accusing the US of fomenting tensions over Taiwan.
Reader Comments
"1. Chip Design and Manufacturing: TSMC is a pure-play foundry, meaning it designs and manufactures integrated circuits (chips) for its customers, including Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, and Nvidia...." Now those are global technology companies.
A (semiconductor) foundry is basically a production site, like a (metal) foundry. The design happens elsewhere, and is jealously guarded by "IP laws" in the West. Although the difference between metal casting and semiconductor "casting" (mostly etching and diffusing) is huge. Companies likeTMC need full disclosure of all design documents to produce a viable result. Thus, TMC (and others) know about every single transistor on every IC they produce. And of course China has the intelligence connections to get blueprints and photos, and the engineering capacity to reverse-engineer it. For God's sake, the Eastern Bloc did that for more than 2 decades. I could name you a dozen Eastern Bloc clones of ICs from Intel, Zilog, Motorola, NS, TI or others from memory.
But there is more to it. This was and is the start of creating a competitor. In the very same manner, German manufacturers began to copy British goods after 1848, eventually surpassing the quality and quantities of the originals. This was reason for the "Made in Germany" label, enforced by the Brits to mark those foreign goods, in the belief their own commoners would put "patriotism" over their purse. And Japan stated out in the very same way after WWII, copying US / Western goods. Especially automobiles and electronics.
History is basically repeating itself because certain imbeciles ruling over us never learn ...
But they were built according to a very different philosophy and target audience. Highly pragmatic, i.e. smaller models better suited for crowded Asian and European metropoles, and with performance & fuel consumption values acceptable to a less monied audience.
And, like German cars (of that period), built by people with a strong tendency to an obsessive of obligation and law&order.
I drove Japanese cars for more than two decades, even the heavily biased and bought automobile club organisations in Germany, who published a annual failure report per model, had to admit the average Japanese car had an one order of magnitude smaller tendency to break down. I never had any myself.
And the now much-trashed Chinese products will reach that stage, too.
German cars were the paramount until the Japanese took over. Now all cars are built all over the world.
I now drive a "cheap" Europe-made car, explicitely built for second/third-wold countries. Not that latest & greatest of technology (that nobody asked for), very little electronics, and less than half the price. I give a sh*t about "social status" ...