BEIJING: US restricts trade with a dozen more Chinese technology firms

BEIJING: The US government has added a
dozen more Chinese companies to its restricted trade list, citing national
security and foreign policy concerns.

Washington
says that some of the firms are helping develop the Chinese military’s quantum
computing programme.

This latest
move comes as tensions grow between the US and China over the status of Taiwan
and other issues.

Trade was
among the items discussed at a virtual summit between the leaders of both
countries earlier this month.

Eight
Chinese-based technology firms were added to the so-called “Entity
List” for their alleged role in assisting the Chinese military’s quantum
computing efforts and acquiring or attempting “to acquire US origin-items
in support of military applications”.

This
entity list has increasingly been used for national security reasons since the
previous Trump administration.

The US
Commerce Department also said 16 individuals and entities operating in China
and Pakistan were added to the list due to their involvement in
“Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear activities or ballistic missile
program.”

A total
of 27 new entities were added to the list from China, Japan, Pakistan, and
Singapore.

Separately,
the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology was added to the department’s
military end user list, although the listing gave no more details other than it
had produced military equipment.

The new
listings will help prevent American technology from supporting the development
of Chinese and Russian “military advancement and activities of
non-proliferation concern like Pakistan’s unsafeguarded nuclear activities or
ballistic missile program,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a
statement.

Potential
suppliers to firms on the list will now need to apply for a licence before they
can sell to them, with applications likely to be denied.

Chinese
telecoms giant Huawei was added to the list in 2019 over claims that it posed a
risk US national security.

The move
cut it off from some of its key suppliers and made it difficult for the company
to produce mobile phones.

The
Chinese government has previously denied that it takes part in industrial
espionage.