The US Commerce Department has placed DJI and three other Chinese companies on an export blacklist over claims that their technology is being used for human rights abuses.
They are now on an "Entity List" in a bid to cut off the Chinese drone maker and others from the US supply chain. “Specifically, these four entities have enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance, and/or facilitated the export of items by China that aid repressive regimes around the world, contrary to US foreign policy interests,” the Bureau of Industry and Security wrote in a filing.
The action was taken after a Bloomberg report in March noted that DJI had been supplying drone technology to Chinese security forces in Xinjiang, where the government has been placing the local Uyghur population in internment camps.
“China actively promotes the reprehensible practices of forced labor, DNA collection and ubiquitous surveillance to repress its citizens in Xinjiang and elsewhere,” US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
In total, the department placed 60 Chinese companies and groups on the Entity List on Friday for a variety of alleged activities, from helping the Chinese military develop new weapons to conspiring to steal US trade secrets.
To export technology to DJI, US companies will need to apply for a license. But the Commerce Department says applicants should presume the licenses will be denied. The only exception is for equipment that can “detect, identify and treat infectious disease.” The department will review these licenses on a case-by-case basis.
DJI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But it's expected the company will have to source components from non-US manufacturers to keeps its business afloat. DJI currently ranks as the leading commercial drone maker in the world, and its product have received rave reviews.
Still, the US government is increasingly worried Chinese-made drones pose a potential spying threat, though it appears DJI can still sell its drones in the US at the moment.
Another Chinese company placed on the Entity List on Friday is Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or better known as SMIC. The Commerce Department sanctioned the company, claiming the SMIC is in league with the Chinese military.
The department is specifically trying to prevent US companies from exporting semiconductor technology related to nodes "10 nanometers or below" to SMIC. All other exports to the company will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.