The US government is close to declaring that 89 Chinese aerospace and other companies have military ties, restricting them from buying a range of US goods and technology, according to a draft copy of the list seen by Reuters.
The list, if published, could further escalate trade tensions with Beijing and hurt US companies that sell civil aviation parts and components to China, among other industries.
Washington trade lawyer Kevin Wolf, a former Commerce official, said the list still could be modified and that the clock was running out for it to go into effect under the Trump administration since it would need to be cleared and sent to the Federal Register, the official US publication for rules, by mid-December.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China "firmly opposes the unprovoked suppression of Chinese companies by the United States."
Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, which is spearheading Chinese efforts to compete with Boeing and Airbus, is on the list, as is Aviation Industry Corporation of China and 10 of its related entities.
The pending list comes after the Commerce Department expanded the definition of "military end user" in April. The April rule includes not only armed service and national police, but any person or entity that supports or contributes to the maintenance or production of military items - even if their business is primarily non-military.
The export restriction applies to items as disparate as word processing software, digital oscilloscopes, and aircraft parts and components, including everything from brackets for flight control boxes to the engines themselves.
Comac, which competes with Boeing and Airbus, is on the list. REUTERS
