US adds 6 Chinese firms tied to balloon programme to export blacklist

The Biden administration yesterday added six Chinese entities connected to Beijing's suspected surveillance balloon programme to an export blacklist.

The new restrictions come after the White House said it would consider broader efforts to "expose and address" China's larger surveillance activities that threaten US national security and allies.

The Commerce Department said the five companies and one research institute were supporting "China's military modernisation efforts, specifically the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) aerospace programmes including airships and balloons."

The spectacle of the Chinese balloon drifting over the US last week caused political outrage in Washington and brought into sharp focus the challenge that China posed to the US and its allies.

It prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing that both countries had hoped would patch up frayed relations.

Being added to the entity list makes it hard for targeted companies to obtain US tech exports. Both US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump have used the list to punish Chinese companies viewed as a threat to national security and keep Beijing from advancing militarily.

"Today's action demonstrates our concerted efforts to identify and disrupt the PRC’s use of surveillance balloons, which have violated the airspace of the US and more than forty countries,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod.

The Commerce Department said the six entities supported the modernisation of China's PLA and its aerospace programmes including airships and balloons.

"The PLA is utilising High Altitude Balloons for intelligence and reconnaissance activities," said the listing posted for the Federal Register, the official US daily journal.

Two of the entities are Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute.

The Biden administration also added Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology, Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology and Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group.

The Chinese embassy in Washington, Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology Co and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Beijing Nanjiang, Dongguan, Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology and Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group could not be reached.

Washington has said it was confident the manufacturer of the Chinese balloon, which the US military shot down last weekend off the US east coast, has a "direct relationship" with the PLA.

The US Air Force downed the balloon off South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it entered US airspace.

China's foreign ministry has said it was a weather balloon that had blown off course and accused the US of overreacting.

- Reuters