FILE - American flags are displayed with Chinese flags on top of a trishaw on Sept. 16, 2018, in Beijing. BANGKOK — The U.S. Commerce Department has expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software.newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China. But some are Chinese-owned businesses in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
“This is a typical act of economic coercion and non-market practice,” the ministry said in a statement. “The purpose of these Entity List actions is to stop PRC companies from leveraging U.S. technology to indigenously produce advanced semiconductors,” Matthew S. Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement, said in a statement. “By adding key semiconductor fabrication facilities, equipment manufacturers, and investment companies to the Entity List, we are directly impeding the PRC’s military modernization, WMD programs, and ability to repress human rights.