US Addes Comac, Xiaomi to Blacklists Chinese Trade Firms

U.S added on Friday nine Chinese firms to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, including planemaker Comac and mobile phone maker Xiaomi, according to Reuters.

Meanwile, the US Department of Defense has designated Xiaomi a “Communist Chinese military company", which means it will be subject to Trump’s executive order that bans the US from investing in "Chinese military" companies considered a security threat. The US orders will be forces American investors to pest their holdings of the blacklisted firms by Nov. 11, 2021.

On other hand, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Xiaomi and Comac did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The expanding blacklist is part of a bid by President Donald Trump to cement his tough-on-China legacy in the waning days of his presidency. On December 2020, USA baned dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s top chipmaker SMIC and Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that the action against SMIC and DJI “stems from China’s military-civil fusion (MCF) doctrine and evidence of activities between SMIC and entities of concern in the Chinese military industrial complex.

So that, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross explained that the department would “not allow advanced U.S. technology to help build the military of an increasingly belligerent adversary.” The government would presumptively deny licenses to prevent SMIC from accessing technology to produce semiconductors at advanced technology levels: 10 nanometers or below, Ross added.