US mulling over options for China sanctions over Taiwan

The United States is considering options for a sanctions package against China to deter it from invading Taiwan, with the European Union coming under diplomatic pressure from Taipei to do the same, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The sources said deliberations in Washington's and Taipei's separate lobbying of EU envoys were both at an early stage.

In both cases, the idea is to take sanctions beyond measures already adopted in the West to restrict some trade and investment with China involving sensitive technologies like computer chips and communications equipment.

The sources did not provide any details of what is being considered, but the notion of sanctions on the world's second-largest economy and one of the global supply chain's biggest links raises questions of feasibility.

"The potential imposition of sanctions on China is a far more complex exercise than sanctions on Russia, given the US' and (its) allies' extensive entanglement with the Chinese economy," said Ms Nazak Nikakhtar, a former senior US Commerce Department official.