(Washington) The United States on Friday added six Chinese companies to its blacklist, after the destruction of a Chinese balloon flying over the United States and equipped with spy tools, denying them access to American technologies and goods without authorization.
“China’s use of high-altitude balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens the national security of the United States,” Commerce Undersecretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez said in the department’s statement. Trade.
Washington shot down a balloon off its Atlantic coast on Saturday that had flown over sensitive military sites.
Beijing had assured that it was a “civilian aircraft used for research purposes, mainly meteorological”. Footage captured by US military aircraft, however, shows it was well equipped with spy tools.
This diplomatic clash had led the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken to postpone a rare visit to China.
The US blacklist on which these six Chinese companies have been placed “is a powerful tool to identify and block actors who seek to use their access to global markets to harm and threaten US national security”, said the Assistant Secretary of Commerce. , Don Graves.
“We will not hesitate to use (this) list and our other regulatory and enforcement tools to protect the national security of the United States,” he said.
The United States, on the orders of Joe Biden, shot down a “high-flying object” over Alaska on Friday, a White House spokesman said, without giving details of its attack. nature or origin.