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

“Weapons sales by the United States to China’s Taiwan region have seriously violated the one-China principle,... seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and security interests, (and) damaged China-US relations,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference.

“China strongly condemns and firmly opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the United States,” Lin said.

He said Beijing was “taking resolute countermeasures” by imposing sanctions on nine US defence firms, which were announced in an earlier foreign ministry statement.

The companies, which include aerospace firm Sierra Nevada Corporation, will have their assets in China frozen and all transactions with China-based people and entities will be prohibited, the statement said.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has remained Taiwan’s most important partner and its biggest arms supplier, sparking repeated condemnations from China.

Beijing and Washington have repeatedly butted heads in recent years on a range of other issues related to trade, access to advanced technology and China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea.

Top White House aide Jake Sullivan met high-ranking Chinese military official Zhang Youxia last month during the first visit to China by a US national security adviser since 2016.

Zhang warned during that meeting that the status of the self-ruled island was “the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-US relations”, demanding that the United States “halts military collusion with Taiwan”.