The United States government on Wednesday
put eight Chinese companies on its trade blacklist citing national security
concerns as these companies helping the Chinese military’s quantum computing
efforts, reported Reuters. This came a week after the virtual meeting between
Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden.

The latest action from the US government
came amid growing tensions between Beijing and Washington over the status of
Taiwan and trade issues. In total, the US blocked a total of 27 companies based
out of China, Japan, Pakistan, and Singapore.

Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo
said in a statement that the new listings will help prevent U.S. technology
from supporting the development of Chinese and Russian “military
advancement and activities of non-proliferation concern like Pakistan’s
unsafeguarded nuclear activities or ballistic missile program.”

China opposes the move

Responding to the US action, the Chinese
embassy in Washington accused the US of “using the catch-all concept of
national security and abuses state power to suppress and restrict Chinese
enterprises in all possible means. China is firmly opposed to that.”

Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu
said the US should “follow the spirit” of a virtual meeting between
US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week and “meet
China halfway instead of going further down the wrong path.”

A move to prevent Chinese military: US

The eight Chinese firms were put on the
blacklist to prevent US technology from being used to help China develop
quantum computing applications for its military.

The US Commerce Department wants to stop
the Chinese military from developing its counter-stealth technology, which
could include equipment like advanced radars and counter-submarine applications
such as undersea sensors. The action also blocks U.S. material from being used
to help China break encryption or develop unbreakable encryption, the Commerce
Department said.

Suppliers to companies on the entity list
will need to apply for a license before they can sell to them, which is likely
to be denied.

Eight Chinese companies which have been
blacklisted:

1.   
Hangzhou Zhongke Microelectronics Co Ltd

2.   
New H3C Semiconductor Technologies Co Ltd

3.   
Xi’an Aerospace Huaxun Technology

4.   
Hunan Goke Microelectronics

5.   
Yunchip Microelectronics

6.   
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale

7.   
QuantumCTek

8.   
Shanghai QuantumCTeck Co Ltd