The Pentagon on Friday released a list of 47 Chinese military-linked companies operating in the United States as part of American efforts to thwart Beijing’s military-civilian technology “fusion” program.
Separately, President Biden issued an executive order identifying 59 Chinese companies, including many of the same firms on the Pentagon list, that will now be blocked from access to U.S. securities markets beginning Aug. 1.
The executive order targets Chinese companies that have been linked to human rights abuses, including video surveillance manufacturer Hikvision, which has been linked to mass repression of minority Uyghurs in western China.
The Treasury Department on Friday announced in response to the presidential order that no U.S. securities investments are permitted directly or indirectly for the 59 companies that are now on what the department calls its “Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List.”
The Pentagon list includes Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, which has been a major focus of U.S.-led efforts to prevent Western companies from falling prey to electronic spying through Chinese-made telecommunications gear. Also on the Pentagon list is the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. which owns China’s other major telecommunications company, ZTE.
The Treasury list includes Chinese missile manufacturers and nuclear-related companies.
Congress demanded the public list be supplied annually as part of the fiscal 2021 defense authorization act signed into law in January.
“The [Defense] Department is determined to highlight and counter the People’s Republic of China’s military-civil fusion development strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the People’s Liberation Army by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise acquired and developed by even those PRC companies, universities and research programs that appear to be civilian entities,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The law requires the Pentagon to identify “military-civil fusion” companies operating directly or indirectly in the United States.
The list includes the Chinese drone maker Aerospace CH UAV Ltd., and several companies that are part of the military aircraft maker Aviation Industry Corp. of China, Ltd. AVIC, which builds both commercial and military aircraft, was blacklisted by the Commerce Department in December.
“AVIC … has undoubtedly been the most prolific investor in U.S. aviation,” stated a 2017 report by the RAND Corporation think tank.
The new executive order replaces a November 2020 order signed by President Trump.