Members of the U.K. Parliament this week questioned whether the government should be imposing more restrictions on China, including through human rights sanctions on Hong Kong officials and export restrictions on a broader range of Chinese technology companies. They also urged the U.K. to share the results of a possible review of its arms export policies toward Israel, which at least one member said hasn’t been transparent.
Exports to China
Navy Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine for sending U.S. military information to a Chinese intelligence officer, DOJ announced. Zhao pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiring with an intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe, DOJ said.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., chairman of the House Select Committee on China, has urged the Commerce Department to consider placing the United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm Group 42 Holdings (G42) on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List, citing possible export control risks from the company’s work with China’s military, intelligence services and state-owned companies.
The U.S. shouldn’t rush to impose new export controls on sensitive lidar technology, experts said, mostly because American firms may not have chokepoints over lidar and the restrictions may hurt U.S. export revenue.
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China imposed sanctions on five American defense-related entities for their involvement in U.S. military sales to Taiwan, a spokesperson for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Jan. 7, according to an unofficial translation. The designations target BAE Systems Land and Armaments, Alliant Techsystems Operations, AeroVironment, Viasat and Data Link Solutions. Beijing said the sanctions will freeze any of their property in China and bar Chinese businesses, organizations and people “from conducting transactions, cooperation and other activities with them.”
The U.S. should push for export controlled semiconductors to be installed with a mechanism that would automatically bar those chips from being used in ways that violate U.S. export restrictions, researchers said in a new report this week. They said this would significantly aid export enforcement efforts and could potentially allow compliant chip companies to sell to a broader range of customers.
China last week launched an antidumping investigation on certain brandy imported from the EU after receiving a complaint from the China Liquor Industry Association. China’s Ministry of Commerce said its investigation will cover brandy imported as early as Jan. 1, 2019, through Sept. 30, 2023, and shipped in containers of less than 200 liters, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said it’s accepting public comments for 20 days from Jan. 5. It’s expecting to complete the investigation before Jan. 5, 2025.
A congressional proposal to allow the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to reopen or alter previously mitigated transactions when national security risks have increased would discourage foreign investment in the United States, an expert at the Center for a New American Security said in written comments posted Jan. 4.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., who chairs the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance and International Financial Institutions, announced Jan. 4 that he will not seek reelection in 2024.