China imposes ban on US companies and personnel after Taiwan president’s visit

BEIJING (CNN) — China on Friday imposed sanctions on two American companies and their managers over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the United States, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Washington-based Hudson Institute and the California-based Ronald Reagan Presidential Library will be prohibited from any collaboration, exchange or transaction with Chinese companies and individuals.

Top managers of these organizations will be banned from traveling to China, they will not be able to transact or cooperate with Chinese companies or individuals, and any assets in China will be frozen, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“The Hudson Institute and the Reagan Library have provided a platform and facilitated separatist activities of a slant, seriously undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the ministry said.

CNN has reached out to the Hudson Institute and the Roland Reagan Presidential Library for comment. It is unclear whether any of these organizations have vulnerable assets in China.

The move follows Tsai’s visit to the United States last week, during which the Reagan Library hosted a meeting Wednesday between Tsai and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that drew opposition from Beijing.

Last week, the Hudson Institute presented Tsai with a Global Leadership Award in New York, citing her “clear commitment to resisting tyranny,” the institute said.

China has also imposed economic sanctions on Taiwan’s acting ambassador to the United States, Hsiao Bi-Kim, Chinese state media reported on Friday. Hsiao was already sanctioned by China last August after then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited the island. On Friday, Hsiao responded to the sanctions on his Twitter account: “Wow, PRC has re-allowed me for the second time.”

Two Taiwanese organizations, The Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, were also targeted by the sanctions, which prevent them from collaborating with companies and individuals from mainland China. Its directors are banned from mainland China, according to the Taiwan Affairs Office.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry called China’s decision to impose new sanctions over President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “irrational and absurd”.

“As a sovereign nation, it is a fundamental right for our head of state to conduct diplomatic activities abroad, and China has no right to comment,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday. “Such deceptive behavior not only deepened the hatred of our citizens, but also exposed the irrationality and absurdity of the Communist regime.”

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on Beijing to face the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are not subservient to each other. Coercion and repression will not change these objective facts. They will further our country’s insistence on freedom and democracy. We must continue to work hard to expand our international space,” he added.