US blacklists 9 more corporations with ties to Chinese military

The US Department of Defence on Thursday blacklisted nine more Chinese corporations, including phone maker Xiaomi for allegedly being owned or controlled by China's military.

The Department had in June 2020 released to Congress, its initial list of compes that are deemed to have military ties while operating as civilian firms. It added to the list more compes in December 2020. With Thursday's updated list there are now over 40 compes that have been blacklisted.

The Defence Department released names of additional "Communist Chinese military compes" operating directly or indirectly in the United States in accordance with the statutory requirement of Section 1237 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999, as amended.

In November last year Trump had signed an executive order that prohibited Americans from investing in the blacklisted firms. Owners of shares of these compes must get rid of them by November 11, 2021.

Apart from Xiami Corpration, the additional firms blacklisted include Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC), Luokong Technology Corporation (LKCO), Beijing Zhongguancun Development Investment Center, GOWIN Semiconductor Corp, Grand China Air Company (GCAC), Global Tone Communication Technology (GTCOM), China National Aviation Holding Co. Ltd. (CNAH) and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC).

"The Department is determined to highlight and counter the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise acquired and developed by even those PRC compes, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities," the Defense Department said in its statement.

( With inputs from ANI )