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US President Joe Biden sees the militarily and economically emerging China as the greatest geopolitical challenge in the world
Photo: Ross D. Franklin / dpa
The US government has blacklisted 36 Chinese companies to make access to US technology more difficult.
The US Department of Commerce said that semiconductor manufacturers such as Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) and Hefei Core Storage Electronic were particularly affected.
This is intended to counter China's efforts to obtain "advanced technologies for military modernization and human rights violations".
According to the US, 21 of the 36 companies have close ties to the Chinese defense sector, for example through the production of chips for artificial intelligence.
Seven are therefore involved in the development of hypersonic missiles and ballistic missiles.
A company has been linked to crackdowns on the Uyghur Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang region.
The memory chip manufacturer YMTC is prohibited from buying US goods without a special license that is difficult to obtain, according to the US Federal Gazette.
The background is the concern that YMTC could pass on American technology to companies like Huawei and Hikvision, against which trade restrictions have already been imposed, as reported by Reuters.
China accuses US of “economic coercive measures”.
A statement by the US Department of Commerce said the government in Beijing wanted to end the separation between the military and civilian sectors.
Protecting US national security therefore requires decisive action to block China's access to cutting-edge technology.
So far, no statement has been made by the companies concerned, as Reuters reports.
The Chinese embassy in the United States accused the government in Washington of "blatant economic coercive measures" in the technology sector.
This undermines business relations between American and Chinese companies and threatens the stability of global supply chains.
China has sued the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over chip export controls.
The companies' blacklisting means the firms need special permission to buy US technology.
This makes access very difficult.
President Joe Biden's government sees the militarily and economically emerging China as the greatest geopolitical challenge in the world.
ani/AFP/Reuters
