US Adds China Companies to Blacklist   12/04 06:09

   

   BEIJING (AP) -- The U.S. government has stepped up a feud with Beijing over 
security by adding China's biggest maker of processor chips and a state-owned 
oil giant to a blacklist that limits access to American technology and 
investment.

   Thursday's announcement adds to steps taken by President Donald Trump 
against China since losing his reelection bid Nov. 3. Political analysts have 
said Trump was likely to take further action before President-elect Joe Biden 
takes office Jan. 20.

   The Pentagon added four companies including Semiconductor Manufacturing 
International Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp. to a list of entities 
deemed to be part of efforts to modernize the ruling Communist Party's military 
wing, the People's Liberation Army. That raises the total number of companies 
on the blacklist to 35.

   On Friday, the Chinese foreign ministry accused Washington of abusing 
national security arguments to handicap fledgling Chinese industrial 
competitors.

   "The actions of the U.S. side seriously violate the principle of market 
competition and the rules of international trade and economy that the U.S. side 
has always advocated," said a ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying. "The U.S. 
side should stop abusing state power or generalizing the concept of national 
security to suppress foreign enterprises."

   SMIC plays a leading role in the ruling party's effort to reduce reliance on 
U.S. and other foreign technology by creating Chinese suppliers of processor 
chips and other components.

   That has taken on greater urgency after Washington blocked access to 
American chips and other technology for telecom equipment giant Huawei 
Technologies Ltd. and imposed curbs on other Chinese buyers. The White House 
also has blocked the use of U.S. technology by global vendors to produce chips 
for Huawei.

   CNOOC is the smallest of China's three main state-owned oil producers.

   Political analysts expect little change in policy under Biden due to 
widespread frustration with China's trade and human rights records and 
accusations of spying and technology theft.

   The 2.3 million-member PLA is one of the world's biggest and best-armed 
militaries. It is spending heavily to develop nuclear submarines, stealth 
fighters, ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons.

   The Pentagon's first list of 20 companies deemed to be PLA-linked in June 
included Huawei and video surveillance provider HikVision Digital Technology 
Co. Both say they never have taken part in military-related research.

   Also cited by the Pentagon in earlier lists are state-owned phone carriers 
China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom Ltd. and petrochemical, construction, 
aerospace, rocketry, shipbuilding and nuclear power equipment companies.