U.S.-China Spat Over Alleged Spy Balloon Heats Up

Date: 11 February 2023 - 21:30

News ID: ۱۱۲۲۹۴

BEIJING (Dispatches) – The United States has blacklisted six Chinese entities it said were linked to Beijing’s aerospace programs as part of its retaliation over an alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed U.S. airspace.
The economic restrictions followed the Biden administration’s pledge to consider broader efforts to address Chinese surveillance activities and will make it more difficult for the five companies and one research institute to obtain American technology exports.
The move is likely to further escalate the diplomatic row between the U.S. and China sparked by the balloon, which was shot down last weekend off the Carolina coast. The U.S. said the balloon was equipped to detect and collect intelligence signals, but Beijing insists it was a weather craft that had blown off course.
The incident prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to abruptly cancel a high-stakes trip to Beijing aimed at easing tensions.
The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security said the six entities were being targeted for “their support to China’s military modernization efforts, specifically the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) aerospace programs including airships and balloons.”
“The PLA is utilizing High Altitude Balloons (HAB) for intelligence and reconnaissance activities,” it said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the United States to stop abusing “long-arm jurisdiction” and unilateral sanctions which have distorted multilateralism and weakened international trade.
“The U.S.’ long-arm jurisdiction is an arbitrary judicial practice, wielded by the U.S. government on the strength of its national power and financial hegemony, to enforce extraterritorial jurisdiction over entities and individuals of other countries on the ground of its domestic law,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said at a news conference.
She made the remarks in response to a reported secret deal the United States struck with Japan and the Netherlands to increase restrictions on the exports of some advanced chip-making tools to China, including advanced lithography tools.
News reports last month indicated that the agreement would extend some of the export controls the United States adopted in October to companies based in the two allied countries, including ASML Holding NV, Nikon Corp, and Tokyo Electron Ltd.
Mao said that in order to maintain its leading position in economics, science, and technology, the United States has disrupted normal trade and industrial chains and global supply by overdeveloping the concept of national security and abusing export controls.
The spokesman went on to say that “successive U.S. governments have resorted to economic coercion, and made imposing sanctions their first choice when it comes to solving diplomatic issues.”
According to Mao, more than 9,400 U.S. sanctions were in effect by the end of the 2021 fiscal year, and Washington has exercised long-term jurisdiction over a number of countries, including China, Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.
“Not only have they failed to achieve desired effects, but these sanctions have caused humanitarian disasters,” she said.