US Adds China Tech Firms to Export List03/26 06:30

   

   BANGKOK (AP) -- China protested Wednesday after the U.S. added dozens of 
companies to its export control list, including more than 50 based in China 
that it says sought advanced knowhow in supercomputing, artificial intelligence 
and quantum technology for military purposes.

   Companies from Taiwan, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa and United Arab Emirates 
also were included in the roughly 80 companies added to the "entity list" of 
the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security.

   Six are subsidiaries of the Inspur Group, China's leading cloud computing 
and big data service provider. It was listed in the U.S. government's entity 
list in 2023.

   The update also includes the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, 
which objected vehemently.

   "We are shocked that a private non-profit scientific research institution 
has been added to the entity list. We strongly oppose this wrong decision 
without any factual basis and ask the relevant U.S. departments to withdraw 
it," the research institute said in a statement.

   A review committee said the BAAI and another company, the Beijing Innovation 
Wisdom Technology Co. were judged to have developed large AI models and 
advanced computer chips for military purposes.

   China's Foreign Ministry also lashed back, saying the entity list and other 
export controls were an abuse meant to "unjustly suppress Chinese enterprises."

   "It seriously violates international law and basic norms of international 
relations, severely damages the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, 
and undermines the security and stability of global supply chains. China firmly 
opposes and strongly condemns this," ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a 
routine news briefing Wednesday.

   The aim is to restrict China's capacity to acquire and develop ultra fast, 
or "exascale" supercomputers, to develop hypersonic weapons and other sensitive 
technologies, the bureau said in a notice on its website. It also is intended 
to prevent South Africa's Test Flying Academy from using U.S. goods to train 
Chinese troops, disrupt Iran's access to unmanned aerial vehicles and other 
military items and hinder development of insecure nuclear and ballistic missile 
programs, it said.

   The companies on the list are subject to the "foreign direct product rule" 
of the BIS which allows it to control reexports and transfers of foreign-made 
products containing technology that the U.S. government deems vital for 
national security.

   The tightening of controls comes as the Trump administration prepares for 
another round of tariff hikes due next week, an escalation of the trade war 
that President Donald Trump launched during his first term in office.

   Trump has already raised tariffs on imports of Chinese goods to 20%. On 
Monday he said he would impose a 25% tariff on all imports from any country 
that buys oil or gas from Venezuela. China buys a large share of the oil 
exported by Venezuela.

   China has retaliated with its own countermeasures, including sweeping new 
duties on a variety of American goods and an anti-monopoly investigation into 
Google.

   It also has moved to tighten its own sanctions regime, meanwhile, with a law 
enabling it to freeze assets of companies subject to Chinese sanctions.