As part of a broad move to ensure national security, the Biden administration introduced 43 entities to its export control list on Monday. This decision includes Frontier Services Group Ltd, a security and aviation firm formerly led by Erik Prince, implicated in the training of Chinese military pilots.
The Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) has also been blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department. British authorities are investigating the academy for recruiting former British military pilots to coach Chinese military personnel. The U.S. imposes export restrictions on companies listed as they are believed to engage in activities that challenge U.S. national interests.
Sites of Frontier Services Group in China, Kenya, Laos, and the United Arab Emirates have been added to the blacklist, alongside TFASA operations in South Africa, China, the UAE, and the United Kingdom. Also included are entities from the aerospace and defense giant, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), located in China and South Africa. The listed companies were not immediately available for comment.
The inclusion of these entities on the Commerce Department's list is due not only to their recruitment of Western pilots for training purposes but also for their procurement of U.S.-origin items aiding China's military modernization efforts. These include the development of hypersonic weapons and flight modeling.
Matthew Axelrod, a Commerce Department official, emphasized the necessity of such measures, stating, "It is imperative that we prevent China from acquiring U.S. technologies and know-how to enable their military modernization programs."
In total, 31 Chinese companies were added to the list. The list also includes Shanghai Supercomputing Technology Co Ltd, singled out for its cloud-based supercomputing contributions to hypersonics research.
Nine businesses from China and Pakistan were listed due to their role in supporting Pakistan's ballistic missile program and other weapons development.
Two firms were listed for enabling human rights abuses in China, particularly the oppression of Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang, western China. Ryan Wende Science and Technology Co, based in Beijing, supplies mobile phone inspection software, fingerprint analysis technology, biostatistics software, and DNA testing items to Public Security Bureaus across China, according to the Commerce Department.
Similarly, Xinjiang Kehua Hechang Biological Science and Technology Co Ltd is under scrutiny for supplying biotech products to entities on the list, including the Xingjiang Production and Construction Corps and Public Service Bureaus in Xinjiang.
The Commerce Department also delisted Fiber Optic Solutions in Latvia, which had been included in December for contributions to the Russian military.
Erik Prince, the founder of security firm Blackwater, served as vice chair of Frontier Services Group from 2014 to 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.
