WASHINGTON: The US Commerce Department blacklisted five Chinese tech entities on Friday (Jun 21) in a new move against Beijing’s super-computing industry likely to raise tensions ahead of a meeting between President Trump and Xi Jinping next week.
The notice targets Sugon – a prominent Chinese supercomputer manufacturer – along with three of its microchip subsidiaries and a computing institute owned by the People’s Liberation Army.
All of the entities will be effectively barred from obtaining US technology because are “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.
Trade tensions between the world’s top two economies have spilled over into the tech sector in recent months, with Trump’s administration moving to essentially ban Chinese tech firm Huawei from the huge US market on security grounds.
Beijing has responded with threats to release its own blacklist of “unreliable” foreign companies and individuals presumably pressuring foreign companies to maintain commercial relations with Huawei.
Earlier this month, Beijing summoned executives from American firms Dell and Microsoft and South Korea’s Samsung, among others, to warn them that any moves to roll back their businesses in China may lead to retaliation, The New York Times reported. (Agencies)
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