Beijing sanctions Paraguayan and Belizean ministers over support for Taiwan

Beijing on Monday sanctioned Paraguayan and Belizean government ministers over the Taiwan issue, after the two nations sealed deals with Taipei in recent months.Gustavo Villate, Paraguay’s minister of information and communication technologies, and Francis Fonseca, Belize’s minister of foreign affairs, foreign trade, education, culture, science and technology were placed under sanctions from Monday, the foreign ministry said.The measures include freezing their assets within China, prohibiting Chinese entities and individuals from transacting or cooperating with the pair, and denying them entry to China, including to Hong Kong and Macau, it added.The two ministers were accused of “obstinately supporting … so-called ‘diplomatic ties’ with China’s Taiwan region” out of “self-interest” in recent years, the foreign ministry said in two separate statements on Monday morning.