United States blacklists 33 Chinese companies

Washington/Beijing: The US Department of Commerce has blacklisted 33 companies having links with the Chinese military. On the background of the US-China diplomatic war in the wake Corona pandemic, the decision is viewed as a significant jolt to China by the United States. The companies blacklisted by the US include those providing ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Facial recognition’ solutions.

The Department of Commerce made the declaration to blacklist the companies on Friday. The list includes big companies like ‘Qihoo 360’, ‘CloudMinds’, ‘NetPosa’, etc.

Most of the companies on the list have links with the Chinese armed forces. It was revealed that the Chinese communist regime uses some of the companies on the list for mounting surveillance on the Uyghur Muslims.

In the past seven months, this is the second major incident of blacklisting of Chinese companies by the United States. Last October, the US had blacklisted 28 Chinese companies which included the video surveillance giant, ‘Hikvision’.

In the past few years, US President Donald Trump has taken a tough and aggressive stance against China in almost all sectors, including finance and trade. The US decision to act against a company like ‘Huawei’ and Trump’s bold policy against China has caught attention at the international level.

Trump and the other American leaders in the US administration have hit out at China over the issue of Corona pandemic as well. They have begun an open diplomatic war with China.

The action taken by the US Commerce Department shows that the Trump administration is intensifying this diplomatic war against China.