China has announced sanctions on the CEOs of Boeing Defense and Raytheon over their involvement in Washington’s latest arms sales to Taiwan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
The sanctions on Boeing Defense, Space, and Security CEO Ted Colbert and Raytheon Technologies Corp boss Gregory Hayes were announced on Friday in response to the US State Department approving the sale of military equipment to Taiwan worth $1.1bn earlier this month.
The sales include 60 anti-ship missiles and 100 air-to-air missiles, of which the respective principal contractors are Boeing Defense, a division of Boeing, and Raytheon.
Colbert and Hayes will be sanctioned “in order to protect China’s sovereignty and security interests”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, citing “their involvement in these arms sales”.
Mao did not elaborate on what the sanctions would entail or on how they would be enforced on the CEOs.
“The Chinese side once again urges the US government and relevant entities to … stop selling arms to Taiwan and US-Taiwan military contacts,” Mao said.
The Pentagon announced the package in the wake of China’s aggressive military drills around Taiwan following a visit last month by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking US official to travel to Taipei in years.
China in February sanctioned Raytheon and Lockheed Martin following the announced sale of $100m in upgrades to Patriot missiles for Taiwan.
Under China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, individuals can be banned from entering China, visas can be refused, seizing and the freezing of assets is allowed, deportations can be conducted, as well as other measures, China’s State-run Global Times newspaper reported.
The Chinese govt is set to impose sanctions on Gregory Hayes, CEO and chairman of #Raytheon Technologies, and Ted Colbert, #Boeing Defense, Space and Security president and CEO, following recent #US arms sales to China’s #Taiwan region, Chinese FM said. https://t.co/vRgK9AYI7d pic.twitter.com/1dLd7dloyA
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) September 16, 2022
The announcement marks the first time Beijing identified and imposed sanctions against individuals from these companies.
Beijing considers the self-ruled island of Taiwan a wayward province that it has promised to bring under control, by force if necessary.
Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims, saying only its people can decide their future and pledges to defend itself if attacked.
