Taiwan's foreign ministry condemned Beijing for sanctioning two ministers from Belize and Paraguay, two of the island's diplomatic allies, Focus Taiwan reported on October 12.

The dispute centres on Taipei's small circle of formal partners. Belize and Paraguay are among only 12 countries that recognise Taipei instead of Beijing. China's measures target individual officials over their governments' decision to keep those ties.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier the same day that it would ban Belizean Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca and Paraguayan Minister of Information Gustavo Villate from entering China. It also said it would freeze any assets and other property the pair hold in the country.

Beijing said it was acting against "certain anti-China politicians who have stubbornly supported their respective countries in maintaining so-called 'diplomatic ties' with China's Taiwan region and undermined China's core interests."

The Chinese statement gave no reason for choosing the two ministers.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) called the sanctions absurd and described them as "blatant interference in other countries' sovereignty and diplomacy."

In a statement, MOFA said the move exposed China's "futile attempt to deploy political intimidation and transnational repression to coerce other countries into submission to its political agenda."

The ministry also described Beijing's tactics as contemptible. It said such conduct would only make China's aim of eroding the international order plainer to the rest of the world.

MOFA said Taiwan has a long record of close relations with both Belize and Paraguay.

The ministry added that Taipei would keep working with all of its diplomatic allies to expand cooperation for mutual benefit and common prosperity, and to resist authoritarian expansion together.