The United States Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has added an unspecified number of Pakistani companies to a blacklist of 14 entities allegedly involved in missile and nuclear activities. The BIS has blacklisted a total of 37 entities for their supposed contribution to Russia’s military and defense base, support of China’s military modernization, and human rights abuses in Myanmar and China.
The blacklist includes a separate category called “Ballistic Missile and Unsafeguarded Nuclear Activities.” The statement revealed that fourteen entities based in China and Pakistan were added to the Entity List for their supposed contribution to ballistic missile programs of concern, including Pakistan’s missile program, and their involvement in unsafeguarded nuclear activities.
Although the list does not identify the entities, it links to a site that is not available to the public. Washington’s move will make it difficult for targeted companies to receive US goods’ shipments. In a statement issued with the list, US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said that “we act to stand against proliferators, oppose military aggression in the case of Russia and China’s military modernization, and protect and advance human rights.” He added that “the United States will not allow diversion of peaceful trade in ways that undermine our values and weaken our security.”
The listings include three entities in Russia, Belarus, and Taiwan added to the list for their alleged significant contribution to Russia’s military and/or defense industrial base. Eighteen entities based in China were added to the list for acquiring and attempting to acquire US origin items in support of China’s military modernization efforts and for supplying or attempting to supply a sanctioned entity in Iran. Six entities based in China and Myanmar were added for violations of human rights.
According to the statement, Chinese entities have engaged in the collection and analysis of genetic data, which poses a significant risk of contributing to monitoring and surveillance by the Chinese government, including the targeting, detainment, and repression of ethnic minorities in China as well as diversion of such information to Chinese military programs. Myanmar’s entities provided surveillance equipment and services to Myanmar’s military regime, enabling it to carry out human rights abuses through the trafficking and identification of individuals and the military’s continued repression of Myanmar’s people, including through surveillance and imprisonment.
The list includes units of Chinese genetics company BGI and Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur. BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions (Hong Kong) were added over allegations that the units pose a “significant risk” of contributing to Chinese government surveillance. BGI’s forensics subsidiary, Forensics Genomics International, was also listed. Inspur was marked for allegedly acquiring and attempting to acquire US goods to support China’s military modernization efforts.
The move is expected to further escalate tensions between the US and China, who have been engaged in a technology war for years. US media predicts that the blacklisting will make it challenging for targeted companies to receive shipments of US goods from American and other suppliers. Tensions between the United States and China have been particularly high since the Biden administration last month shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that had crossed a broad swath of the United States.
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