BEIJING, April 11 (Reuters) - China has banned the

senior executives of two U.S. defence companies from entering

the country and frozen their property in response to their arms

sales to Taiwan, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The measures effective from Thursday were against General

Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which manufactures unmanned aerial

systems, and military vehicle maker General Dynamics Land

Systems, a unit of General Dynamics ( GD ).

China said the arms sales "seriously interferes" in its

internal affairs and "damages" China's sovereignty and

territorial integrity.

"The continued sale of arms by the United States to China's

Taiwan region is a serious violation of the one-China principle

and the provisions of the three joint communiqués of the United

States and China," it said.

China said it has frozen the firms' properties in China and

banned their senior executives from entering the country.

Both companies did not immediately reply to a request for

comment.

Last year, China imposed sanctions against U.S. aerospace

and defence firms Northrop Grumman ( NOC ) and Lockheed Martin ( LMT )

, also for providing weapons to Taiwan.

Taiwan said its annual war games this year will practice

"kill" zones at sea to break a blockade and simulate repelling a

Chinese drill around the island that turns into an actual

attack.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its

territory, has been staging regular exercises around the island

for the past four years, to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing's

claim of sovereignty, despite Taiwan's strong objections.

The United States is holding a series of security

discussions with several countries this week.

The U.S., Britain and Australia, under the AUKUS security

pact, talked about cooperation with Japan, while U.S. separately

said it will change military command posture in Japan to allow

better coordination and boost deterrence in the face of Chinese

pressure.

The U.S. will also hold a trilateral summit with Japan and

Philippines on Thursday that will discuss Beijing's growing

pressure in the South China Sea.