The Chinese government announced late Saturday an unusually broad series of retaliatory measures in response to the latest United States arms sales to Taiwan, including cancellation of some military exchange and sanctions against American companies that supply the weapon systems for the arms sales.
The United States has occasionally imposed bans on exports to the United States by Chinese companies that have violated international agreements on weapons proliferation, most notably penalizing Chinese companies involved in alleged surreptitious shipments of medium-range missiles to Pakistan.
But China is going a step further in moving to penalize American companies engaged in commercial arms transactions that are publicly announced and do not violate international nonproliferation pacts.
The World Trade Organization generally prohibits the imposition of import restrictions as political maneuvers. But the body's rules include a broad exception for national security that the Chinese could cite if the United States tried to challenge them.
China has also never joined the W.T.O. side agreement on government procurement. So China could bar the American companies from selling to the government without fear of W.T.O. review. (Source: Keith Bradsher, New York Times, Jan 30, 2010).