U.S. sanctions 6 Chinese tech business for supporting spy balloon programs

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U.S. sanctions six Chinese tech companies for supporting spy balloon programs

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The presumed Chinese spy balloon wanders to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, U.S. February 4,2023

Randall Hill|Reuters

WASHINGTON– The Commerce Department revealed a brand-new round of sanctions Friday targeting 6 Chinese aerospace business that it determined as supporting the country’s armed force’s reconnaissance balloon program.

The companies will sign up with a growing list of business based in China that the U.S. states present major dangers to nationwide security.

The sanctions statement came simply hours after an American military F-22 shot down the 2nd “high altitude object” to get in U.S. airspace in the previous week.

“The PRC’s use of high-altitude balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens U.S. national security,” stated Alan Estevez, undersecretary of commerce for market and security, utilizing the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

“Today’s action makes clear that entities that seek to harm U.S. national security and sovereignty will be cut off from accessing U.S. technologies,” Estevez stated in a declaration from the Commerce Department.

The craft that was shot down Friday was drifting off the coast ofAlaska Last weekend, a high elevation Chinese security balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

The White House was reluctant to define the airplane associated with the Friday event as a balloon, nevertheless.

“We’re calling this an object because that’s the best description we have right now,” stated National Security Council representative John Kirby, including that U.S. authorities did not yet understand which country or group was accountable for it.

The brand-new sanctions show the administration’s restored focus today on China’s unmanned airship security programs.

“Today’s action demonstrates our concerted efforts to identify and disrupt the PRC’s use of surveillance balloons, which have violated the airspace of the United States and more than forty countries,” stated Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement.