The US Department of Defense (DoD) has just published a new list of Chinese companies, which it alleged have direct ties to China's military. The agency published the list this week, which was made public by a number of other news and media outlets.
According to reports, the public release of the list was made under the 1999 National Defense Authorization Act. The DoD claimed that it was part of its mandate to expose companies operating in the US that have direct links to the Communist Chinese military. This includes commercial entities that the DoD claims are directly or indirectly controlled by the People's Liberation Army.
Under the act, the government is given the authority to impose sanctions on the companies that are found on the list. Some of the more well-known companies that are on the list include Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies, China Telecommunications Corporation, China Railway Construction Corporation, and Hikvision. The aforementioned companies are already part of the country's trade blacklist, which it had established back in October last year.
Huawei, in particular, has long been the target of the Trump administration's campaign in its tech war against China. The US alleges that Huawei is being used as a tool by the Chinese government to spy on other countries. The country has also accused Huawei of stealing trade secrets and technologies from US companies.
The Trump administration has even lobbied for its allies to ban the use of Huawei's equipment and services in their respective 5G infrastructure. The call has been heeded by some of its allies but others have found no evidence of Huawei's ill intensions. The Chinese firm has repeatedly denied the US' accusations, stating that it is a privately-owned and independent company and that the privacy and security of its customers is one of its top priorities.
On Wednesday, the same day the DoD had released its new list, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo openly called the companies on the list as nothing by tools for China's "surveillance state." The official specifically called out Huawei in his accusations. He added that the number of companies on the list is only a drop in the bucket of the Chinese government's continued exploitation of US markets.
Huawei and the Chinese government have yet to respond to the release of the list. Hikvision had released a statement denying any involvement and link to the Chinese military. The company added that it "strongly opposes" to being included in the list and to the country's misapplication of a 21-year-old law.
