Infrastructure

Home page

Infrastructure

US includes 20 Chinese companies in its sanction list

25 June 2020 19:12 (UTC +04:00)

The Pentagon has compiled a list of Chinese companies with ties to the country’s military as part of an intensifying effort by the Trump administration and Congress to make it harder for Beijing to secure US investment and sensitive technologies, APA-Economics reports citing Financial Times.

The list includes several state-owned entities involved everything from nuclear power to aviation. China Telecom and China Mobile, two telecoms companies that are listed in New York, are also named.

Congress required the Pentagon to produce the list in 1999 but officials never followed through on the request. The FT reported last year that the effort gained momentum as lawmakers responded to rising tension with Beijing by telling the Pentagon to name companies it believes help China’s military.

The 1999 law, which specifies Chinese companies that operate “directly or indirectly” in the US, gives the president authorisation to impose sanctions.

A senior official said China’s acquisition of sensitive technology and intellectual property was “a threat” to US economic and national security.

“This list sheds light on Chinese military companies operating in the US to inform the named congressional committees and . . . the executive branch, in light of the role such companies may play in transferring sensitive technology to the Chinese military,” the official said.

Congress is not required to act on the list. But China hawks say it will pressure investors to divest from companies that Washington says threaten national security just weeks after President Donald Trump told the main US government pension fund not to invest in any Chinese-listed companies.

The 20 named companies include Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker the US believes helps Beijing conduct cyber espionage. It also names Hikvision, which supplies surveillance technology to detention camps in the Xinjiang region where the Chinese government has interned more than 1m ethnic Muslim Uighurs.