(Yicai) Aug. 26 -- China's Ministry of Commerce has condemned the United States' move to include Chinese entities in its export control list for their alleged involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The US action is a unilateral sanction that violates international trade rules, hinders normal international economic and trade exchanges, and affects the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, a spokesperson for the MOC said yesterday.

China urges the US to immediately stop these erroneous practices, the spokesperson noted, adding that the country will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security announced on Aug. 23 that it had added 123 entities to its so-called Entity List -- 63 from Russia, 42 from China, and 14 from Türkiye, Iran, and Cyprus -- for "shipping US-origin and US-branded items to Russia in contravention of US export controls or for engaging in other activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy interests."

Yicai then learned that the 42 Chinese entities are mainly electronic component distributors in the semiconductor industry’s supply chain, including listed companies, such as Fine Made Electronics Group and Hytera.

The BIS has added 1,056 entries to the Entity List since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February 2022. Entities on the list face additional licensing requirements and restrictions under the Export Administration Regulations.

The latest BIS action also expands the scope of the Russia/Belarus Military End User and Procurement Foreign Direct Product rule and imposes additional license requirements on operation software for computer numerically controlled machine tools.

This will allow the BIS export controls to capture entities outside Russia and Belarus that help procure US-origin and US-branded items that support Russia in the conflict with Ukraine.

"The BIS is adding controls on certain software needed to operate CNC machine tools to prevent the provision of software updates to controlled tools in Russia and Belarus." 

Editor: Futura Costaglione