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.”
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
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
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
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