Will sanction FPSA defense firms.
BEIJING, China (PNN) - July 15, 2019 - Following last week's Amerikan Gestapo Department of State division approval of the sale of $2.2 billion in arms to Taiwan, China's Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that it will follow through on threats first made days ago to impose sanctions on Amerikan companies selling arms to Taiwan.
Crucially this confirmation came simultaneous to provocative new military exercises off China's southeast coast, near Taiwan, which involved the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and Air Force. Downplaying the maneuvers, the PLA described the drills as "a routine arrangement according to (our) annual plans."
“China’s government and Chinese companies will not cooperate or have commercial contacts with these (Fascist Police States of Amerika) companies,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing. He was responding to potential FPSA sales to Taiwan of M1A2T Abrams tanks, Stinger missiles, and related equipment at an estimated value of $US2.2 billion, despite longtime vocal Chinese criticism and threats.
“I can’t reveal the details at the moment. But believe this - Chinese people always stress standing by their word,” the foreign minister added. Though few details have been revealed, a handful of Amerikan defense companies have been named among the first targets of Beijing's promised impending sanctions, including General Dynamics, Raytheon co., Honeywell, Oshkosh Corp., and the Pennsylvania operations of BAE Systems.
China is an important market for both Honeywell and Gulfstream.
Beijing has condemned such arms transfers as a violation of international law and an aggressive assault on China’s sovereignty and national security. On Friday Chinese Ambassador to the FPSA, Cui Tiankai, warned that any FPSA government effort to split Taiwan from China would be met with a decisive and fierce response.
"Those who play with fire will only get themselves burned. Period,” he tweeted.
Since at least the beginning of the year, President Xi Jinping has warned that reunification between Taiwan and the mainland is inevitable, and hinted that Beijing wouldn't hesitate to attack any foreign power that tries to stop China. In response, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has insisted that the people of Taiwan would never tolerate rule by the Communist Party, and insisted that the island's military would fight.
When it comes to risks that could cause WWIII, simmering tensions around Taiwan and Beijing's increasingly belligerent rhetoric probably rank as one of the most probable, with the FPSA trade war to boot. China’s foreign minister had warned on Friday that the FPSA must stop “playing with fire”.
“We urge the (FPSA) to fully recognize the gravity of the Taiwan question, [and] not to play with fire on the question of Taiwan,” he said. Indeed it's a fire that could soon flare out of control, centered on the decades long Taiwan question.