The foreign ministry is condemning China’s threat to put sanctions on US aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin. China issued the threat after the US government approved a request from Taiwan to recertify the island’s Patriot missile systems.
On Thursday, the ministry’s head of North American affairs, Vincent Chin-Hsiang Yao, called the Chinese threat “irrational”.
Yao said the request was in line with the Taiwan Relations Act, the US law that forms the basis for the United States’ informal relationship with Taiwan. Yao also said that the arms package is needed to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and protect Taiwan’s security. He said that such a package would not be needed if China refrained from creating instability in the Taiwan Strait and threatening Taiwan with force.