A US official on Wednesday downplayed Beijing’s risk of materializing threats to impose sanctions on US defense groups that sell weapons to Taiwan.
China on Monday announced sanctions against Lockheed Martin and Boeing’s defense division, which produce missiles that Washington decided to sell to Taiwan, an island Beijing considers one of its provinces.
“This is not the first time that Beijing has threatened US companies with sanctions,” said Clarke Cooper, the State Department’s defense affairs officer.
“There were threats and provocations in this regard,” said some journalists.
Washington broke off its diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979, to recognize Beijing, but the same year the United States adopted a rule that it should help Taiwan in the event of conflict.
Since then, Washington remains the strongest ally of the island’s leaders and its main arms supplier.
Beijing has threatened to resort to force in the event of a formal proclamation of independence or external intervention and the United States wants to give the island a credible defense capability in the face of a potential invasion by the Chinese military.
“Taiwan’s security is essential to the stability of the Indo-Pacific region,” added Cooper, recalling that China has always known that Washington would continue to sell arms to Taiwan.
