China has newly placed a slew of EU defense and aerospace firms on a control list, or effectively a new blacklist, reportedly with an eye on Taiwan tensions. It has barred its exporters from supplying dual-use items to seven EU firms, including FN Herstal and Omnipol a.s., according to a statement from the Chinese commerce ministry.
The ministry said the measure targets European defense companies that previously sold arms to Taiwan or maintained links with it, and stated the restrictions will not affect normal economic and trade exchanges with the European Union.
Beijing said it will continue working with other countries to safeguard peace and maintain a stable global supply chain, in its usual boilerplate rhetoric directed at the West regarding Taiwan, which China sees as its own.
Other firms named include Hensoldt AG, Excalibur Army, SpaceKnow Inc., VZLU Aerospace, and FN Browning. The companies are mostly based in Czech Republic, Belgium, and Germany.
"The MOFCOM spokesperson emphasized that the legally mandated export control measures target only a small number of EU entities involved in military affairs, entities that have participated in arms sales to Taiwan island or colluded with Taiwan authorities, and the measures only target dual-use items," state-run Global Times described further, in reference to China's Ministry of Commerce.
"They will not affect normal trade and economic exchanges between China and the EU, and law-abiding EU entities have absolutely nothing to worry about," it added, citing the Commerce spokesperson.
All the while, Beijing has kept up its fiery denunciations, making clear there's "no space" for ambiguity on what China sees as its territory (Taiwan).
Earlier this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had welcomed the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party for a rare direct meeting in the Chinese capital.
The symbolism of the timing couldn't be missed, as Xi invited Nationalist Party Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun to China ahead of the planned big mid-May summit with President Trump in which the Chinese leader could continue a push to dilute Washington's support for Taiwan.
However, the Trump-Xi meeting is still anything but assured as moving forward, given the ongoing Iran war and very uneasy ceasefire with little evidence of an offramp in sight.
Also, Washington has suddenly this week charged Beijing with stealing US artificial intelligence labs' intellectual property on an "industrial scale".
The formal memo could upend the May summit before it even gets off the ground: "The US government has information indicating that foreign entities, principally based in China, are engaged in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to distil US frontier AI systems," Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, wrote in a memo shared on social media on Thursday, per Reuters and FT.