US Sanctions 43 Entities Including Chinese Firms for "Supporting Chinese Military Training with NATO Equipment"

China "Firmly Opposes Unfair Suppression... Necessary Measures"

On the 12th (local time), the U.S. Department of Commerce added a large number of Chinese companies to the blacklist (entity list) citing national security concerns and links to human rights violations.

On the same day, the Department of Commerce announced sanctions against a total of 43 companies, including 31 Chinese firms, in the Federal Register.

Several aviation-related companies, including Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), were sanctioned for providing training to the Chinese military using equipment sourced from Western and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries.

The Department of Commerce explained that entities such as AVIC 612 Institute are involved in concerning activities related to hypersonic weapons development and air-to-air missile design and manufacturing.

Additionally, companies like Shanghai Supercomputing Technology, which have acquired or attempted to acquire U.S.-origin items to support the Chinese military, were also placed on the blacklist.

Chinese companies that provided software or biometric technologies related to human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region were also targeted by the sanctions.

Furthermore, Frontier Services Group, a security and aviation-related company operating in China, Kenya, and Laos, was added to the blacklist.

Regarding the U.S.'s sweeping sanctions targeting Chinese companies, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated at a regular briefing on the 13th, "We firmly oppose this," and added, "We will continue to take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies."

Spokesperson Wang criticized, "The United States repeatedly expands its concept of national security to protect its military-scientific-technology hegemony, abuses its national power, unjustly suppresses Chinese companies, arbitrarily destroys the international economic and trade order and global trade rules, and severely harms the stability of global industrial and supply chains."