The administration of US President Joe Biden on Thursday added 37 companies to a trade blacklist, including three Taiwanese firms, units of Chinese genetics company BGI (華大基因) and Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur (浪潮).
The US Department of Commerce, which oversees export controls, added BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions (Hong Kong) over allegations that the units pose a “significant risk” by contributing to Chinese government surveillance.
“The actions of these entities concerning the collection and analysis of genetic data present a significant risk of diversion to China’s military programs,” the department said.
Photo: Reuters
Reuters previously reported that BGI was collecting genetic data from millions of women for sweeping research on the traits of populations and that it collaborates with the Chinese military.
Also listed was BGI’s forensics subsidiary, Forensics Genomics International.
The department accused Inspur of acquiring and attempting to acquire US goods to support China’s military modernization efforts.
The companies and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The department added 26 other Chinese entities to the list — which makes it difficult for targeted companies to receive shipments of US goods from suppliers.
The additions included several entities that the department said were supplying or attempting to supply a sanctioned entity in Iran, and three firms in Taiwan, Russia and Belarus that it said were contributing to the Russian military.
It also targeted companies in China and Myanmar for breaches of human rights, and went after companies in China and Pakistan for contributing to ballistic missile programs of concern, including in Pakistan.
“When we identify entities that pose a national security or foreign policy concern for the United States, we add them to the Entity List to ensure we can scrutinize their transactions,” US Assistant Secretary of Commerce Thea Kendler said in a statement.
The latest additions to the trade black list are likely to further escalate the ill will between Washington and Beijing, which have been locked in a technology spat for years.
Tensions have been especially high since the Biden administration last month shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed a broad swath of the US.
“We cannot allow our adversaries to misuse and abuse technology to commit human rights abuses and other acts of oppression,” US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod said. “That’s why we’re committed to preventing bad actors from siphoning off our technology. We will take an all-tools approach to combat this threat.”
The department in 2020 added two units of BGI Group, the world’s largest genomics company, to its economic blacklist over allegations it conducted genetic analyzes used to further the repression of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
BGI denied allegations of wrongdoing at the time.
Taiwanese firm Neotec Semiconductor Ltd (新德科技) was added to the blacklist, as the company significantly contributes to “Russia’s military, or defense industrial base,” the Bureau of Foreign Trade said in a statement yesterday.
The Hsinchu-based company exports mainly chips and electric goods overseas, it added.
Neotec did not apply for a permit to export strategic high-tech products to Russia, the statement said.
China and Hong Kong are the major export destinations for Neotec customs information showed, the statement said.
The bureau is tracking the destinations of the company’s goods, it added.
Additional reporting by Lisa Wang
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