China said on Monday that the United States "is seriously violating the basic norms of international law and relations" by adding 70 Chinese companies to a list of entities banned from accessing American technology.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference that Washington "seriously harms the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and undermines the security and stability of global production and supply chains."
"We urge the United States to stop generalizing the concept of national security and stop politicizing, instrumentalizing and militarizing economic, trade and scientific and technological issues," the spokesman said, adding that China "firmly opposes" the move.
Beijing "will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," the spokesman added, urging the United States to "stop unreasonably suppressing Chinese companies."
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement Monday that it had added 80 companies from China, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Iran and Taiwan to the list for their “activities that are contrary to the national security and foreign policy” of the United States.
About 70 of the companies are Chinese, including 11 involved in advanced artificial intelligence and semiconductor development, among other areas, and 27 singled out for “acquiring or attempting to acquire” components from the United States to support the modernization of the Chinese military.
The names of the companies were not released.
The statement stressed that the expansion of the list aims to “restrict the ability of the Chinese Communist Party to acquire and develop exascale computing capabilities, as well as quantum technologies, for military application,” and “impede the development of China’s hypersonic weapons program.”
"Under the strong leadership of President Donald Trump, the Department of Commerce is taking decisive action to protect America," U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement.
