The US announced on Monday it was adding six Chinese companies to an export blacklist for supporting the development of Iran’s weapons of mass destruction as well as the modernisation of China’s military.
“We will continue to cut off entities that seek to evade our controls and act contrary to US national security,” said Thea D. Rozman Kendler, the US assistant secretary of commerce for export administration.
“Programmes such as Iran’s WMD programme, their unmanned aerial-vehicle programme and Pakistan’s ballistic missile programme pose significant threats to the national security of the United States and will not be aided by US technologies.”
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Companies are added to the trade-restriction register known as the Entity List when Washington deems them a threat to US national security or foreign policy.
Once placed on the list, companies cannot receive American goods and technology without a special license, which is likely to be denied.
The Commerce Department added Beijing Moreget Creative Technology for acquiring US-origin items related to aviation-simulation technology in support of China’s military modernisation.
Hong Kong-based Small Leopard Electronics, along with the closely connected company Shenzhen Dragonfly Supply Chain, got added because Small Leopard repeatedly engaged in “dilatory and evasive conduct” in providing information to the Commerce Department during end-use checks.
According to the department, Small Leopard was party to a transaction with an end user that supplied goods to an Iranian procurement network.
Small Leopard was previously added to Commerce’s Unverified List, which includes companies for which US export-control officers cannot complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive US-origin technology and goods.
Three other companies – Detail Technology (HK), L-Tong Electronic Technology and Shenzhen Jiachuang Weiye Technology – were added for procuring or attempting to procure US-origin items for Iran’s WMD and drone-development programmes.
Beijing has repeatedly urged Washington to stop targeting specific companies with what it has called “discriminatory and unfair measures”.
In total, 26 entities joined the list on Monday. Aside from the Chinese companies, one was added from Egypt, 16 from Pakistan and three from the United Arab Emirates.
Two companies came off the list, including China’s Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co, which the department says has been dissolved.
The Anhui province-based computer-parts maker was added to the list in 2020 for allegedly contributing to forced labour practices involving Uygurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
Commerce also removed Canada-based networking-equipment company Sandvine, noting the company’s “significant’’ changes to its corporate governance and business practices to protect human rights.
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