China Sanctions U.S. Defense Companies Over Arms Sales to Taiwan

Welcome to today’s Morning Brief, where we’re looking at Chinese sanctions on U.S. aerospace and defense companies, Israel’s denationalization law for some Arab citizens convicted of terrorism, and reported Russian balloons over Kyiv.

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China has sanctioned U.S. aerospace and defense company Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Missiles and Defense, a unit of Raytheon Technologies, putting them on a list of “unreliable entities” over arms sales to Taiwan.

The companies are now prohibited from imports and exports related to China. Neither company sells China defense products. China previously announced sanctions against Lockheed and Raytheon in 2019 and 2020 but did not explain what those sanctions were. Last year, it also sanctioned both Lockheed and Raytheon, this time explicitly over $100 million in arms sales to Taiwan.

The companies’ senior managers will have work and residence permits canceled and be barred from entering the country.

Analysts have said the sanctions won’t actually impact operations. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “These are symbolic measures and unnecessary—that’s how we view them.”

“Foreign Military Sales are government-to-government transactions and we work closely with the U.S. government on any military sales to international customers. Lockheed Martin closely adheres to United States government policy with regard to conducting business with foreign governments,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

These sanctions come at a tense time for Washington and Beijing. The United States recently shot down what it said was a surveillance balloon that passed over the United States. It was shot down with a F-22 Raptor fighter jet made by Lockheed and an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile made by Raytheon. China denied it was a spy balloon, accused the United States of overreacting, and said the United States also sent spy balloons to China.

Israeli law to strip citizenship of Arabs convicted of terrorism. Israel passed legislation that would strip Arab citizens or residents of their citizenship or residency if they are convicted of terrorism and have received financial help from the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians say the money is assistance for families with relatives in prison; Israel says the stipends encourage violence. The law also allows Israel to deport these individuals to Gaza or the West Bank. According to rights group HaMoked, 140 Palestinian citizens of Israel and 211 Palestinian residents from East Jerusalem currently held in jail could be impacted by the legislation. The bill passed 94-10.

Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Ta’al party, an Arab party, noted that the law did not apply to Israel’s Jewish citizens, saying, “An Arab who commits an offense is a conditional citizen. If a Jew commits the same offense or a more serious one, they don’t even think of revoking his citizenship.”

Russians send balloons over Kyiv, launch missile strikes. Ukraine’s military administration says it spotted six Russian balloons over Kyiv on Wednesday, most of which it shot down. Ukrainian authorities did not specify when they flew over the capital, but they suggested, “The purpose of launching the balloons was possibly to detect and exhaust our air defenses.” Missile strikes followed soon afterward on Thursday.

Moscow launched 36 missiles at Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials; at least 16 were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses. Two people were killed in Kherson, and infrastructure in the Lviv region was damaged.

UNAIDS urges prioritizing lives over profits in Africa. Winnie Byanyima, head of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), criticized large pharmaceutical companies for privileging profits over lives and said racist inequalities are undermining the fight against AIDS, especially in Africa. More than half of new infections come from sub-Saharan Africa, and adolescent girls and young women were three times as likely to get HIV as their male counterparts. Byanyima said stigmas often prevented them from coming forward and seeking help, adding that women and girls should be able to privately access services for sexual and reproductive health care.

• What Putin Got Right by Stephen M. Walt

• The Drone War in Ukraine Is Cheap, Deadly, and Made in China by Faine Greenwood

• Washington’s China Hawks Take Flight by Robbie Gramer and Christina Lu

Porcelain pounds. A British bargain hunter bought a 2-pound ($2.40) piece of porcelain that turned out to be worth 30,000 pounds ($36,000). He purchased the white Chelsea Porcelain Factory figure in Gloucestershire, England, in the 1990s and kept it on display for decades before finally taking it for valuation, at which point he learned it was around 278 years old.