US President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to add China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), and national offshore oil and gas producer China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC, 中國海洋石油) to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, according to a document and sources, curbing their access to US investors and escalating tensions with Beijing weeks before president-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Reuters last month reported that the US Department of Defense (DOD) was planning to designate four more Chinese companies as owned or controlled by the Chinese military to the list, bringing the number of Chinese companies affected to 35.
A recent executive order issued by Trump would prevent US investors from buying securities of the listed firms starting late next year.
Photo: AFP
It was not immediately clear when the new tranche, would be published in the Federal Register, but the list comprises China Construction Technology Co (中國建築技術公司) and China International Engineering Consulting Corp (中國國際工程諮詢公司), in addition to SMIC and CNOOC, according to the document and three sources.
SMIC said it continued “to engage constructively and openly with the US government” and that its products and services were solely for civilian and commercial use.
“The company has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses,” it said.
Photo: Reuters
CNOOC’s listed unit said in a stock market statement that it had inquired with its parent and learned that it had not received any formal notice from US authorities.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said, in response to a question about Washington’s planned move, that China hoped the US would not erect barriers and obstacles to cooperation and discriminate against Chinese companies.
The upcoming move, coupled with similar policies, is seen as seeking to cement Trump’s tough-on-China legacy and to box Biden into hardline positions on Beijing amid bipartisan anti-China sentiment in Congress.
The Biden campaign declined to comment.
Reuters reported last week that the Trump administration is close to declaring that 89 Chinese aerospace firms and other companies have military ties, restricting them from buying a range of US goods and technology.
The list of “Communist Chinese Military Companies” was mandated by a 1999 law requiring the Pentagon to compile a catalog of companies “owned or controlled” by China’s People’s Liberation Army, but DOD only complied this year.
HONG KONG
Meanwhile, Hua said that China would impose sanctions on four people with links to US democracy promotion efforts over interference in Hong Kong: John Knaus, senior director of the National Endowment for Democracy; Manpreet Anand, a regional director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI); Kelvin Sit, the NDI’s program director for Hong Kong; and Crystal Rosario, a specialist at the NDI.
As of yesterday, the four were banned from entering China, she said.
“The US behavior blatantly interferes in Hong Kong affairs and grossly interferes in China’s domestic affairs,” Hua said. “It violates basic norms governing international relations, and China firmly rejects and condemns this.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique