Washington: The United States has introduced trade restrictions against 37 entities from China, Georgia, Malaysia and Turkey, the Department of Commerce said on Thursday.
“This rule implements the decision of the ERC [End-User Review Committee] to add thirty-seven entities under forty entries to the Entity List … The entities are located in the People’s Republic of China (China), Georgia, Malaysia, and Turkey. Of the forty entries, thirty-four are located in China, three are located in Georgia, one is located in Malaysia, and two are located in Turkey. Three entities are listed under multiple destinations, accounting for the difference between the number of entities and number of entries in this final rule,” the statement said.
Among the blacklisted entities are the Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) in China and 11 of its research institutes, which allegedly use biotechnology processes to “support Chinese military end uses and end users, to include purported brain-control weaponry.”
In a separate press release, the Commerce Department said that blacklisted Chinese entities are engaged in developing and deploying biotechnology and other technologies for military applications and human rights abuses.
“The scientific pursuit of biotechnology and medical innovation can save lives. Unfortunately, the PRC is choosing to use these technologies to pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups. We cannot allow US commodities, technologies, and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to US national security,” Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo said, as quoted in the statement.
Other Chinese entities as well as those in Georgia, Malaysia, and Turkey were put on a trade blacklist for “diverting or attempting to divert US items to Iran’s military programs.”
