HONG KONG (REUTERS) - China will impose sanctions on senior US officials who visit Taiwan, and American companies that they have ties with, the editor in chief of the Global Times newspaper said on Tuesday (Sept 8).

Hu Xijin said on his official Twitter account that those being sanctioned would never be allowed to enter mainland China, and that any US companies they have ties with would lose access to the Chinese mainland market.

The Global Times is published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party.