By Karen Freifeld and Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is putting four Chinese companies on an export blacklist because they want to purchase AI chips for the Chinese military, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.
The companies are “involved in providing AI chips for China’s military modernization programs” and using military intelligence, Kevin Kurland, an export control official at the Commerce Department, said at a hearing of the U.S. Senate subcommittee on strengthening export control enforcement.
The companies are among 11 new additions to the Commerce Department’s list of companies released by the government on Wednesday. Suppliers need licenses, which they will likely be denied, to supply goods and technology to companies on the list.
Four Chinese companies that have acquired and attempted to acquire U.S. goods in support of China’s military modernization efforts were added, according to the Federal Register filing. The reason was not further explained in the publication.
The companies are LINKZOL (Beijing) Technology Co, Xi’an Like Innovative Information Technology Co, Beijing Anwise Technology Co and SITONHOLY (Tianjin) Co.
China opposes the US misusing the list and other export control tools to “contain and suppress” Chinese companies, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular news conference on Thursday.
She called on the US to stop politicizing trade and technology issues and take necessary steps to protect its rights and interests, she added.
In the post, the United States also restricted exports to five companies it said would help produce and procure drones for use by Russia in Ukraine and by Iran-backed Houthis in ship attacks in the Red Sea.
Russia has stepped up its drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks, causing significant damage and threatening a repeat of blackouts in the first year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Ministry of Commerce has the Chinese company Jiangxi
Another Chinese company, Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Co, was added because it is part of a network that sources aerospace components, including drone applications, for an aircraft company in Iran. Three Russian companies – Aerosila JSC SPE, Delta-Aero LLC and JSC ODK-Star – have been added as part of this network.
“These components are used to develop and produce Shahed series UAVs, which have been used by Iran to attack oil tankers in the Middle East and by Russia in Ukraine,” the Federal Register notice said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles .
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said normal economic cooperation between China and Russia should not be disrupted or restricted. “We always oppose the US’s unilateral and illegal sanctions,” Mao said.
Attacks on ships, including oil tankers, by Iran-backed Houthis have disrupted global shipping through the Red Sea. Yemen’s Houthis say they are retaliating for Israel’s war against Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Companies are added to the U.S. Entity List if Washington deems them a threat to U.S. national security or foreign policy.
Two summonses from the United Arab Emirates, Khalaj Trading LLC and Mahdi Khalaj Amirhosseini, were added for apparently violating Iran sanctions by exporting or attempting to export goods from the United States to Iran through the United Arab Emirates , the release says.
The companies could not be reached for comment.
Military contacts between the U.S. and China resumed late last year, but tensions remain over fundamental differences over Taiwan and the South China Sea, which remain dangerous potential flashpoints.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pumped billions into purchasing and developing equipment as part of his modernization drive to build a “world-class” military by 2050, with Beijing’s outsized defense budget growing faster than the economy for several years.