China has applied sanctions on U.S. companies over selling weapons to Taiwan on numerous occasions before, and it is not immediately clear how they work or what they are intended to achieve given that neither company sells to China.

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

BEIJING, Sept 15 (Reuters) - China will impose sanctions against U.S. aerospace and defence firms Northrop Grumman (NOC.N) and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) for providing weapons to Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.

U.S. President Joe Biden last month approved the transfer of up to $80 million in funds to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing programme, according to a notification sent to Congress.

The sanctions were imposed during a week of busy military activity around the democratically-governed island, in which a Chinese naval formation led by the aircraft carrier Shandong passed within 60 nautical miles (111 km) of Taiwan's southeast.

Taiwan has also reported dozens of Chinese fighters, bombers and other aircraft flying into its air defence zone this week.

Beijing views the self-ruled island of Taiwan as a breakaway province that must accept Chinese sovereignty and has never renounced the use of force to achieve that goal.

It has extraterritorial reach and is part of a suite of laws Beijing has introduced in recent years that analysts say may enable China to police countries' behaviour towards it beyond its shores.

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