US blacklists Chinese firms for allegedly aiding Pakistan's nuclear activities

Commerce department concerned over Pakistan's ‘unsafeguarded nuclear activities and ballistic missile programme’

WASHINGTON:

The US Commerce Department put a dozen Chinese companies on its trade blacklist on Wednesday citing national security concerns and in some cases their help with the Chinese military's quantum computing efforts.

The department also said 16 entities and individuals from China and Pakistan were added to the blacklist for contributing to Pakistan's nuclear activities or ballistic missile programme.

In total, 27 new entities were added to the list from China, Japan, Pakistan, and Singapore.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement that the move will help prevent US technology from supporting the development of Chinese and Russian "military advancement and activities of non-proliferation concern like Pakistan's unsafeguarded nuclear activities or ballistic missile program".

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The Commerce Department said Hangzhou Zhongke Microelectronics Co. Ltd., Hunan Goke Microelectronics, New H3C Semiconductor Technologies Co. Ltd., Xi'an Aerospace Huaxun Technology, and Yunchip Microelectronics were placed on the Commerce Department's entity list for their "support of the military modernisation of the People's Liberation Army".

It also added Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, QuantumCTek, and Shanghai QuantumCTeck Co. Ltd. to the list for "acquiring and attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of military applications".

Suppliers to these companies will need to apply for a license before selling to them, which is likely to be denied.