Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies have drawn Beijing’s ire for supplying weapons to Taipei
China has imposed sanctions on two major American arms manufacturers, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies. The decision, which was announced by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Monday, targets the two companies over their involvement in the “supply of American weapons to Taiwan.”
The measures seek to “protect the sovereignty and security interests” of Beijing, the diplomat explained, as China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory.
The official stopped short of clarifying what those punitive measures would involve and how they could potentially affect Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies.
China has called on the US to “stick to the One-China principle” and “stop selling weapons to Taipei.” Beijing also stressed that it would “continue taking all the necessary measures based on how the situation develops, and will resolutely defend its sovereignty and security interests.”
Beijing’s decision to impose sanctions on the American companies comes two weeks after Washington approved a possible sale of $100 million worth of military equipment and services to Taiwan to “sustain, maintain, and improve” its Patriot missile defense system.
A statement by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency named Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin as the main contractors.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it “highly welcomed” Washington’s decision “in the face of China’s continued military expansion and provocative actions.”
China, for its part, vowed to take “appropriate and forceful measures” in response. When asked by journalists what those measures would be, the Foreign Ministry’s Zhao Lijian urged them to just “wait and see.”
In fact, back in October 2020, China already imposed sanctions on Lockheed Martin, Boeing Defense, Raytheon, and several other US companies which it believed were involved in the sale of weapons to Taiwan.
Beijing has made it clear that it has not ruled out a military option to bring the region under its control.
Internal displacement, regional instability, and climate change have created a refugee crisis in Niger, but an initiative in the town of Ouallam is showing how different communities can work together to survive, and improve the local environment.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that Russian-backed rebels were continuing to fire mortars in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.
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More than a decade after losing millions in brother’s Ponzi scheme, couple is found dead from gunshot wounds in their Florida home
The sister of disgraced Wall Street titan Bernie Madoff and her husband – who were also the victims of the Ponzi schemer’s massive fraud – have died from gunshot wounds in a case that police are investigating as a possible murder-suicide.
Sondra Wiener, 87, and Marvin Wiener, 90, were found dead in their Boynton Beach, Florida, home on Thursday afternoon. Police confirmed on Sunday that the deaths may have been a murder-suicide, though it wasn’t disclosed which spouse was suspected of doing the shooting.
Multiple suicides have already been linked to Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme, which unraveled in 2008, after he admitted the fraud to his sons. His oldest son, Mark, reportedly hanged himself to death on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest, leaving behind a note blaming the financier for ruining his life. Several investors also killed themselves over their losses in the scheme, including a hedge fund executive whose firm had invested $7 billion with Madoff.
His younger son, Andrew, died in 2014 after blaming his father for recurrence of the rare cancer from which he suffered. “One way to think of this is, the scandal and everything that happened killed my brother very quickly, and it’s killing me slowly,” he said in a People magazine interview.
The elder Madoff died last year in federal prison after a long bout with kidney disease. He was 82.
The Wieners reportedly lost $3 million in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and were forced to downsize. They had lived near Madoff’s estate in the gated BallenIsles Country Club enclave in Palm Beach Gardens, but they sold the home in 2009 for $575,000 – nearly $76,000 less than they had paid for it six years earlier. They then bought a $315,000 home in Boynton Beach, about 25 miles down Florida’s eastern coast.
One of the couple’s sons, Charles Wiener, worked at Madoff Securities for decades. Another son, David Wiener, told the New York Post in 2009 that his parents had suffered greatly from Madoff’s scheme.
Camilo Vergara is one of hundreds of young Colombians benefiting from a UN programme aimed at pulling victims of the country’s former conflict out of poverty, and into stable employment.
Although child marriage and “bride kidnapping” are illegal in Kyrgyzstan, both practices still exist in parts of the country. An initiative from a UN-backed programme is finally leading to a change in attitudes, and a decline in these harmful practices.
