China has announced sanctions on American companies selling arms to the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory and threatens to annex by force.

China sanctions on U.S. defense firms have recently intensified tensions between Washington and Beijing. The Chinese government has imposed these sanctions in response to the U.S. State Department’s approval of a $228 million arms deal to Taiwan.

China has imposed sanctions on nine US defence firms over sales of military equipment to Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing announced the measures on Wednesday. The move comes as China continues to raise the pressure on Taiwan and demands that Washington end support for its declarations of independence.

BEIJING: China imposed sanctions on nine US defence firms on Wednesday (Sep 18), the foreign ministry said, describing the measures as retaliation for Washington's approval of military equipment sales to Taiwan this week.

China has said it will take countermeasures against nine US military-industrial companies in response to the announcement of arms sales to Taiwan, Taiwan News reported. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry,

China announced sanctions on nine U.S. military-linked firms due to arms sales to Taiwan, freezing their property within China. This move aims to pressure the U.S. to halt its arms dealings with Taiwan,

The US State Department on Monday approved the sale of return, repair, and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment to Taiwan. It is the 16th arms sale, worth $228 million, to Taiwan since the US' Biden administration was inaugurated in 2021.

Taiwan’s defence minister has warned that China’s growing military activity will make it more difficult to spot harbingers of an attack on his country. Wellington Koo said Taiwan needed to test its ability to respond to “a potential sudden contingency” and that his country’s reaction time to an emergency “cannot be as long as we would have imagined in the past”.

Many experts argue that China is preparing to seize Taiwan, driven by economic, geopolitical, and historical motivations. The CCP views Taiwan's annexation as a way to solidify its dominance in the Indo-Pacific and erase the legacy of the Chinese Civil War.

China sanctions nine U.S. military firms in response to arms sales to Taiwan, asserting violations of the one-China principle.