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The United States confirmed on Friday it will add dozens of Chinese companies, including the leadinng chipmaker SMIC and Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co to a trade sanctions list.
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The sanctions, first reported by Reuters, is seen as the latest in Republican President Donald Trump's efforts to cement his tough-on-China legacy.
The U.S. Commerce Department confirmed the decision early Friday, saying the action against SMIC "stems from China's military-civil fusion (MCF) doctrine and evidence of activities between SMIC and entities of concern in the Chinese military industrial complex."
A U.S. Commerce Department official told reporters on a conference call that the world's biggest drone company DJI was being added to the list. DJI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement that the department would "not allow advanced U.S. technology to help build the military of an increasingly belligerent adversary."
Ross said the government would presumptively deny licenses to prevent SMIC from accessing technology to produce semiconductors at advanced technology levels - 10 nanometers or below.
In an address to the Asia Society on Friday, Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, noted the expanding list of U.S. sanctions and called on Washington to stop its "arbitrary suppression" of Chinese companies.
The Commerce Department said it was adding a total of 77 companies and affiliates to the so-called entity list, including 60 Chinese companies. Reuters reported earlier the department was adding about 80 companies, most of them Chinese.
China's foreign ministry said that if true, the sanctions would be evidence of U.S. oppression of Chinese companies and that Beijing would continue to take "necessary measures" to protect their rights.
"We urge the U.S. to cease its mistaken behavior of unwarranted oppression of foreign companies," ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular news conference in Beijing on Friday.
SMIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The designations by the Commerce Department include some entities in China that enable alleged human rights abuses and some helping it construct and militarize artificial islands in the South China Sea, the agency said.
It also cited entities that acquired U.S.-origin items in support of the People's Liberation Army's programs, and entities and persons that engaged in the theft of U.S. trade secrets.
Companies previously added to the list include telco Huawei Technologies Co and 150 affiliates, and ZTE Corp over sanction violations, as well as surveillance camera maker Hikvision over suppression of China's Uighur minority.
