The US Commerce Department announced Friday that it has placed six Chinese companies on a blacklist for aiding Beijing’s attempts to modernise its armed forces, notably in relation to aerospace projects like airships and balloons.
The action was taken a day after US legislators unanimously blasted China’s use of a rumoured surveillance balloon that floated over North America last week.
Prior to the US military shooting the balloon down off the nation’s east coast on Saturday, the balloon’s days-long flyby from Alaska to South Carolina attracted the attention of ordinary Americans and authorities.
Companies included to the so-called Entity List are prohibited from acquiring US products and technologies without government approval.
In a statement released on Friday, Alan Estevez, the under secretary of commerce for industry and security, claimed that the use of high-altitude balloons by the People’s Republic of China “violates our sovereignty and threatens US national security.”
He continued, “Today’s move clearly shows that companies that aim to undermine US national security and sovereignty will be barred from using US technologies.”
The six businesses include Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology Co., Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology Co., and 48th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.
The other three are Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co., Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group Co., and Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology Co.
China’s military is using high-altitude balloons “for espionage and reconnaissance activities,” according to a paper from the Commerce Department, which also added that this goes against US objectives in national security and international relations.
The balloon was a “civilian airship employed for research, primarily meteorological ones,” China maintains.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army is believed to be in control of the balloon, which is part of a fleet that China has sent over more than 40 nations on five continents to gather intelligence, according to a State Department official.
According to Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod, Friday’s move shows coordinated efforts to find and stop China’s deployment of surveillance balloons, “which have violated the airspace of the United States and more than forty countries.”
He said: “Export Enforcement will diligently monitor and stop shipments to the specified parties and pursue any attempts to avoid these limitations.”
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