US blacklists 77 more Chinese entities, including SMIC, DJI

Washington, Dec 18 (efe-epa).- The United States on Friday added 77 Chinese entities, including chipmaker SMIC and the world’s biggest drone maker DJI, to its blacklist of companies with which it bans the export of US technology.

In a statement, the Department of Commerce said the 77 “include entities in China that enable human rights abuses, entities that supported the militarization and unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, entities that acquired US-origin items in support of the People’s Liberation Army’s programs, and entities and persons that engaged in the theft of US. trade secrets.”

It said it added SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation), to the so-called List of Entities “to protect US national security” and for its alleged links with the Chinese military.

“We will not allow advanced US technology to help build the military of an increasingly belligerent adversary,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

He highlighted SMIC’s alleged links with a military industrial complex and Beijing’s “aggressive application of military civil fusion mandates,” adding that “SMIC perfectly illustrates the risks of China’s leverage of US technology to support its military modernization.”

The department said that DJI and other companies were added for allegedly enabling “wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.”

Other additions to the list are various construction firms, such as China Communications Construction Co., for allegedly enabling “China to reclaim and militarize disputed outposts in the South China Sea.”

Washington has also added to the list several universities in Beijing, Nanjing and Tianjin, which it accuses of having stolen trade secrets or “acquiring and attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of programs for the People’s Liberation Army.”

Inclusion on the Entity List has become one of the Donald Trump administration’s favorite tools in its trade battle against China. Currently there are more than 300 companies, organizations and institutions of the Asian giant on it.

In the past, the Commerce Department has used this list against the telecommunications company Huawei and against entities linked to alleged human rights abuses against Uighurs in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang province. EFE-EPA

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