US publishes list of Chinese and Russian firms with military ties

WASHINGTON • The Trump administration has published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with alleged military ties that restrict them from buying a wide range of American goods and technology.

It was reported last month that the US Department of Commerce had drafted a list of companies that it linked to the Chinese or Russian military, news that brought a rebuke from Beijing.

The final list on Monday does not include Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), or the Hong Kong subsidiaries of Colorado's Arrow Electronics and Texas-based TTI Inc, a Berkshire Hathaway electronics distributor. Those companies were on the draft list seen by Reuters.

However, Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute, which designs Comac planes, and Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co, which makes Comac planes, are on the list.

The final list names 103 entities, 14 fewer than on the draft list seen by Reuters in November. Fifty-eight are designated under China, down from 89, and 45 entities are tied to Russia, up from 28.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday that the action establishes a new process "to assist exporters in screening their customers for military end users".

The publication of the list in the waning days of the Trump administration follows the addition of dozens of Chinese firms to another US trade blacklist, including the country's top chipmaker, SMIC, and drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology, on Friday.

The US government also has grown increasingly concerned about China's "military-civil fusion", a policy that aims to build up its military might and technological development in tandem.

The Commerce Department earlier this year expanded the definition of "military end users", as the department defines the companies with military ties.

The category includes not only armed service and national police, but any person or entity that supports or contributes to the maintenance or production of military items - even if their business is primarily non-military.

The "military end user" designation requires US companies to obtain licences to sell to the firms, which are more likely to be denied than granted.

Number of entities named by the US in the final list of Chinese and Russian companies with alleged military ties.

The list is not definitive and Commerce said US companies must continue to do their own due diligence to help decide whether their buyers are considered military end users.

Publication of the list is likely to anger China. Its foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian had, in November, called news of the draft list "unprovoked suppression of Chinese companies by the United States".

REUTERS