Washington. February 11. INTERFAX - The US Department of Commerce has blacklisted six Chinese companies associated with the aerospace industry, CNBC reported.
"The United States has imposed sanctions against six Chinese companies associated with the aerospace industry, adding them to the list of companies that the United States considers a serious threat to national security," the report says.
The list includes Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Technology, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 48th Research Institute, Dongguan Lingkong Remote Sensing Technology, Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group, Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Technology and Shanxi Eagles Men Aviation Science and Technology Group.
"We will not hesitate to use the Entity List and our other regulatory and enforcement tools to protect the national security of the United States," CNBC quotes a statement from the US Department of Commerce.
It is noted that the reason for the blacklisting of companies was "their support for China's efforts to modernize the armed forces, in particular, the aerospace programs of the Chinese army, including the creation of airships and balloons."
Earlier, the representative of the National Security Council of the White House, John Kirby, said that the US military on Friday shot down a balloon that was spotted in the sky over the state of Alaska. According to him, the balloon fell into American territorial waters.
Kirby stressed that Washington does not yet know who owned this object, adding that it was much smaller than the Chinese balloon that was shot down earlier.
Last week, a Chinese balloon was discovered in the sky over the United States. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the balloon is a civilian object used for scientific purposes, mainly meteorological, which went off course and entered US airspace. After a week of flight, the US military shot down a balloon that flew through the territory of the United States.
The appearance of the Chinese balloon, which Washington described as an intelligence balloon, led to a diplomatic scandal between the two countries. For example, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken postponed a visit to Beijing scheduled for February 5-6, accusing China of violating the sovereignty of the United States. In turn, Beijing, after the balloon was shot down, declared an official protest and warned of possible retaliatory measures.