Washington– The US Department of Defense has added Shenzhen-based consumer drone maker DJI Technology to a list of firms allegedly connected to the Chinese military.
The Defense Department last year said that systems produced by Da Jiang Innovations (DJI) pose potential threats to national security.
The fresh list includes Shenzhen Dn Innovation Technology Co, Ltd. (DII) and BGI Genomics Co Ltd (BGI), China’s largest genomics firm.
The initial list included Huawei Technologies and several other Chinese companies.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Defense Department said that it released the names of Chinese military companies “operating directly or indirectly in the US in accordance with the statutory requirement of Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021”.
It said it is “determined to highlight and counter the PRC Military-Civil Fusion strategy, which supports the modernisation goals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise are acquired and developed by PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities”.
Section 1260H directs the Department to begin identifying, among other things, military-civil fusion contributors operating directly or indirectly in the US.
“The United States Government reserves the right to take additional actions on these entities under authorities other than section 1260H,” the statement added.
In October last year, the US Federal Communications Commission Commissioner had warned that the Chinese drone maker DJI “is collecting vast troves of sensitive data on Americans and the US critical infrastructure, potentially operating as Huawei on wings”.
Shenzhen-based DJI accounts for more than 50 per cent of the US drone market.
In May this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) added over 80 firms to its list that is likely to delist them from American exchanges, including China’s JD.com, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, JinkoSolar, Pinduoduo, Bilibili, electric maker NIO Inc, and NetEase. (IANS)
