BEIJING, April 11. /TASS/. Beijing has imposed sanctions on two American companies - General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems - for selling weapons to Taiwan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced.

"The continued sale of arms by the United States to China's Taiwan region is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the provisions of the three joint communiques of the United States and China," the ministry said.

The arms sales "seriously interferes" in China’s internal affairs and "damages" China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the ministry added.

The sanctions imply that the companies’ property on the territory of China will be frozen and their executives are banned from entering the country.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after being defeated in the Chinese civil war. Beijing considers Taiwan to be a province of the People’s Republic of China.