After China’s state media named several US firms allegedly threatened by sanctions over arms sales to Taiwan, American aerospace and defence giant Honeywell has said it had “no input” into the agreement between Washington and Taipei.
Both
People’s Daily and state broadcaster CCTV posted an article on their official WeChat channels on Sunday criticising Honeywell, Oshkosh Corporation, General Dynamics and its subsidiary Gulfstream Aerospace for their involvement in the sale of tanks and missiles to Taiwan.
“The US arms sale is ‘penny wise, pound-foolish’. They sell weapons to Taiwan but lose their market in China, and their non-military products will be boycotted in China too,” the article read.
“Do not ever underestimate the firm will of the Chinese government and its people to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity! Do not underestimate China's strength as the world's second-largest economy,” the article warned.
Both official state media channels – viewed as mouthpieces for the government in Beijing – reposted the article from a private account called “Yuyuan Tantian”, which appears to be linked to CCTV. Despite being an unofficial channel, it could be interpreted as a signal sent from Beijing concerning sanctions, about which the Foreign Ministry
without mentioning specific company names.
In a statement sent to the
South China Morning Post, Honeywell said it sees “no reason why Honeywell would be potentially sanctioned by the Chinese government” as the company is a “component provider and [does] not decide where the products are used. This was a government-to-government sale, initiated by the United States government. Honeywell has no input into these agreements and has had no direct dealings with Taiwan.”
Last week, despite strong opposition from Beijing, the US State Department approved a US$2.2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which includes 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks, 250 Stinger missiles, and 16 M1070A1 heavy equipment transporters.
The WeChat article stated that Honeywell provided essential components for the tanks, which were designed and manufactured by General Dynamics. Oshkosh made the heavy equipment transporters included in the arms sale.
The article also named Gulfstream Aerospace, the highly profitable private jet maker owned by General Dynamics, saying that China is currently the company’s third biggest market. It also said that Oshkosh transporters are used in more than 60 Chinese airports. Meanwhile, CNBC reported that Raytheon manufactured the Stinger missiles; however, it is not mentioned in the WeChat article.
All the named companies have been trying to expand their Chinese markets for years. In 2003, Honeywell moved its Asia-Pacific headquarters from Singapore to Shanghai. In 2017, it paid US$100 million for the land where it had built its headquarters in Shanghai.
To expand its presence in China and Asia-wide, Oshkosh opened a Shanghai office and a Tianjin manufacturing facility in 2008. Last year, amid demand for private jets from China’s growing number of super-rich, Gulfstream senior vice-president Scott Neal said in an interview with Bloomberg that he saw “exciting growth ahead in the China market”, despite China’s economy reporting the
on record on Monday.
General Dynamics, Gulfstream and Oshkosh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang repeated that the arms sale had undermined China’s sovereignty and national security, and said that China would cut ties with the US firms involved in selling arms to Taiwan.
“China's government and Chinese companies will not cooperate or have commercial contacts with these US companies,” he said. “I cannot reveal the details at the moment. But believe this: Chinese people always stress standing by their word.”
The Commerce Ministry announced in May it would publish a blacklist of “unreliable” businesses or individuals deemed to have violated market rules or taken “discriminatory measures” after the US government blacklisted Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies. However, it has yet to publish the list.
The row over arms sales comes as tensions between the US and China are at their highest point for decades. The world’s two biggest economies are engaged in a bitter,
that has sent shock waves through global markets.
As the trade war has unfolded, meanwhile, the use of private WeChat accounts to disseminate Chinese government viewpoints has become more common.
Along with the Yuyuan Tantian account – a play on the Chinese name for a park located near the old CCTV headquarters in Beijing – on which the US companies were originally named, private accounts
, affiliated with state newspaper
Economic Daily, have been used to leak information about US-China trade talks. China watchers have been using these accounts as windows into the country’s highly opaque political system.
