Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is concerned that Huawei is evading U.S. export restrictions on semiconductors and ordering them from U.S. companies with the intent to ship them in case those companies are granted export licenses, he said in a Dec. 17 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Rubio asked Ross to provide information on how many individual export licenses Commerce has approved for U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to Huawei and whether it would be legal for U.S. companies to “stockpile” items for eventual export to Huawei pending a licensing decision, or to “receive compensation from Huawei for doing so.” Rubio also asked whether the administration plans to remove Huawei from the Entity List. A Commerce spokesperson pointed to Ross's statement last week, in which he said the U.S. will continue to use Entity List restrictions to prevent China's military from acquiring sensitive semiconductor equipment.

The Bureau of Industry and Security published a set of frequently asked questions to provide industry guidance on its summer update to the foreign direct product rule, which increased restrictions on certain foreign-made items (see 2009170026). The guidance, issued this week, features FAQs that cover how the restrictions apply to companies and products, and how they impact prior exports, manufacturing plants, supply chains, prior licenses and more. BIS also outlined how the restrictions may apply to various scenarios faced by industry, including licensing responsibilities and due diligence requirements.

The Bureau of Industry and Security added 77 entities and people to the Entity List, including China’s top chipmaker, to further prevent China and other countries from acquiring sensitive U.S. technologies, the agency said Dec. 18. Along with China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the Entity List additions include China-based DJI, one of the world’s largest drone makers, and companies in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Malta, Pakistan, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Bureau of Industry and Security will add China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company and more than 60 companies to the Entity List for actions “deemed contrary” to U.S. national security. BIS said SMIC, China’s top chipmaker, has concerning ties to China’s government and risks transferring imported U.S. technology to the country’s military. Other companies will be added to the Entity List for human rights abuses, for supporting China’s militarization of the South China Sea, for diverting U.S. products to China’s military and for the theft of U.S. trade secrets. BIS did not immediately say when the restrictions will take effect.

China is a threat to the U.S., Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said, and he said there's a risk that “the next administration could roll back much of the progress we’ve made the past few years, in an attempt to return to the failed dream of engaging and accommodating China.” Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Subcommittee on Economic Policy, led a subcommittee hearing Dec. 16 on U.S.-China Economic Competition. Cotton said during the hearing that export controls must be tightened.

The Commerce Department published its fall 2020 regulatory agenda for the Bureau of Industry and Security, including new mentions of rules to amend Hong Kong under the Export Administration Regulations, releases of controlled technologies to standards setting bodies and a range of new technology controls.

The European Union is bracing for a large workload and host of new “responsibilities” as it prepares to implement its new dual-use export control regime, said Denis Redonnet, the European Commission’s chief trade enforcement officer. Redonnet said the regime will “test” EU agencies and governments and will only succeed with cooperation from industry experts.

Leaders of a congressional commission on China asked Intel and Nvidia to explain whether they knew their technology exports to China would help the government conduct mass surveillance of Muslim minorities and eventually lead to human rights violations. In Dec. 4 letters, Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., chair and co-chair, respectively, of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said they are concerned that sales of the companies’ computer chips are helping to power a Chinese supercomputer being used to suppress minorities in the Xinjiang region, The New York Times reported Nov. 22.

China's attempts at using economic tools, such as export controls on rare earth minerals or punishing imports from Australia, have only been somewhat successful, according to Maximilian Ernst, the speaker on the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies webinar Dec. 7, called “How to Respond to China’s Carrots and Sticks? Prospects of a Transatlantic Response to Chinese Economic Coercion.” Ernst is researching Chinese coercion for a Ph.D.

The Defense Department on Dec. 3 released another list of Chinese companies with ties to the country’s military, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, China’s top chipmaker (see 2011300038). The other companies are China Construction Technology Co. Ltd., China International Engineering Consulting Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp. The Defense Department said it designated the companies to “highlight and counter” China’s military-civil fusion efforts, adding that China’s government uses what appear to be civilian entities to acquire advanced technologies. DOD released two similar lists earlier this year (see 2008300001 and 2006250024) and said it will continue to update the lists.