China sanctions Lockheed Martin, Raytheon

STORY: China is going after Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. It has put the defense companies on an “Unreliable entities list” over arms sales to Taiwan banning them from imports and exports related to China.

These are Beijing’s latest sanctions against the two U.S. firms and they come as tensions between the China and the U.S. have escalated after the U.S. military shot down what it says was a Chinese spy balloon, and a day after Beijing warned of "countermeasures against relevant U.S. entities that undermine China's sovereignty and security."

Neither company sells defense products to China. Raytheon declined to comment. Lockheed could not be immediately reached for comment.

Lockheed makes the F-22 Raptor fighter jet, which flew the mission to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, using the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile made by Raytheon.

Beijing also banned the companies from further investment in China, barred senior management from entering the country, canceled residence permits for any staff in China and imposed fines that are double the contracted amounts of their arms sales to Taiwan.

It was not clear how China would enforce such fines, which it said must be paid within 15 days.

Last February, China sanctioned the two firms over a $100 million arms sale to Taiwan, a self-ruled island which Beijing views as a breakaway province.

The U.S. does not sell weapons to China. However, it is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, and U.S. weapons sales always attract China's anger.