The US Department of Defense added more Chinese companies, including drone maker DJI Technology Co (大疆創新) and surveillance equipment maker Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co (浙江大華科技), to a blacklist that subjects them to an investment ban for Americans.
BGI Genomics Co Ltd (華大基因), which has DNA-sequencing contracts with health firms and universities worldwide, and runs a massive gene databank, as well as CRRC Corp (中國中車), which engages in the manufacture and sale of rail transit equipment, are also among the 13 companies added to the list released by the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Last year, a Reuters review of scientific papers and company statements found that BGI developed its prenatal tests in collaboration with the Chinese military and was using them to collect genetic data for sweeping research on the traits of populations.
Photo: REUTERS
“The Department is determined to highlight and counter the People’s Republic of China’s [PRC] Military-Civil Fusion strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the [Chinese] People’s Liberation Army by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise are acquired and developed by PRC companies, universities and research programs that appear to be civilian entities,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The list bars buying or selling publicly traded securities in target companies.
An initial tranche of about 50 Chinese firms that included telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co (華為) was added to the US list in June last year.
At the time, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that banned US entities from investing in the dozens of Chinese firms with alleged ties to defense or surveillance technology sectors.
The order aimed to prevent US investment from supporting the Chinese military-industrial complex, as well as military, intelligence and security research and development programs.
It was part of Biden’s broader series of steps to counter China, including reinforcing US alliances and pursuing large domestic investments to bolster US economic competitiveness, amid increasingly sour relations between the world’s two biggest economies.
Separately, sources have said that the Biden administration is planning to exclude SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co from new restrictions on DRAM and flash memorychip makers in China.
The US Department of Commerce, which is scheduled to release new curbs on exports to China this week, will likely deny requests by US DRAM or flash memorychip equipment suppliers to send their products to Chinese firms including Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC, 長江存儲) and ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc (CXMT, 長鑫存儲), they said.
However, license requests to sell equipment to non-Chinese firms making advanced memory chips in the country would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, they said.
“The goal is not to hurt non-indigenous companies,” one of the people briefed on the matter said.
The White House and the commerce department declined to comment.
SK Hynix, Samsung, YMTC and CXMT did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chinese embassy in the US on Thursday described the expected rules as “sci-tech hegemony.”
It said the US is using its “technological prowess ... to hobble and suppress the development of emerging markets and developing countries.”
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