On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it has added four Chinese companies to its export blacklist (Entity List), citing that these Chinese firms have been purchasing goods originating from the United States to support the Chinese Communist Party’s military modernization efforts.
The statement mentioned that export license applications to these four companies have been “presumed denied,” indicating that they may face difficulties in buying goods from the U.S. According to Reuters, Kevin Kurland, an official from the Bureau of Industry and Security, stated that these companies were involved in “providing artificial intelligence chips (chips) to the Chinese military.”
Kurland attended a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on strengthening export control enforcement on the same day.
According to documents released by the Department of Commerce in the Federal Register, the four Chinese companies are LINKZOL (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., Xi’an Like Innovative Information Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Anwise Technology Co., Ltd., and SITONHOLY (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.
The Commerce Department’s documents stated that these Chinese companies purchased and attempted to purchase items originating from the U.S. to support Chinese military modernization efforts, violating U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.
Under regulations, suppliers need to obtain licenses to provide goods and technology to these companies on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, but license applications are likely to be rejected.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded at a routine press conference on Thursday, opposing the U.S. for “abusing” export control lists and other export control tools to “block and suppress” Chinese companies.
In addition, two other Chinese companies were added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List on Thursday: Jiangxi Xintuo Enterprise Co. Ltd., which provided drone support to the Russian military; and Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Co., Ltd., which was accused of participating in a network that purchased aerospace parts (including dual-use parts for both military and civilian drones) for an Iranian aircraft company.
When Washington deems that a company poses a threat to U.S. national security or foreign policy, the company is added to the U.S. Entity List. Since President Biden took office, the U.S. has increased efforts to use this list to contain Chinese enterprises.
The Chinese Communist Party has invested billions of dollars in purchasing and developing equipment to achieve its goal of building a “world-class” modernized military by 2050. Over the years, Beijing’s significant growth in defense spending has surpassed China’s economic growth rate.