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CNOOC headquarters in Beijing, China – Photo: REUTERS
China’s leading chipmaker SMIC, China Construction Technology, and China International Engineering Consulting are new names in addition to CNOOC. Thus, so far, a total of 35 Chinese companies have been identified by the United States as military or related to the Chinese army.
On November 12, President Donald Trump signed an executive order prohibiting US companies and individuals from investing in companies identified by the US Department of Defense as linked to the Chinese military. This prohibition will take effect from 11-1-2021.
Hikvision, China Telecom and China Mobile, other big names in China’s telecom and camera industry, were added to the list earlier this year.
The Reuters news agency commented that expanding the list this time will certainly face opposition from China. On November 29, after CNOOC and SMIC were revealed to be in the Trump administration’s crosshairs, the stock prices of these two companies plummeted in the first trading session of the week.
In theory, CNOOC is the owner of the 981 (HD981) Hai Duong oil rig that invaded Vietnamese waters in 2014. US diplomats have repeatedly described companies such as CNOOC used by Beijing as a tool to “intimidate” countries. of the region and obstructing oil and gas activities has existed in these countries for a long time.
In August 2020, the US government announced a list of 24 Chinese companies involved in the illegal accumulation and militarization of disputed entities in the South China Sea. It is necessary to distinguish the black list that the CNOOC has just “contributed” from that published in August because the “sanctions” measures are completely different.
Observers once speculated that Chinese drilling rig and inspection vessel owners were blacklisted in August. The inclusion of CNOOC in the list of companies involved in the Chinese military could be seen as “expectations” because the sanctions against the entities on this list are stronger than those of August.
The Chinese embassies in Washington, CNOOC and SMIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters said this move is likely to increase tensions with Beijing before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Under a 1999 law, the US Department of Defense had to compile a list of “Chinese Communist Military Companies”. However, it wasn’t until Trump’s time that the Pentagon failed to comply with the requirement of the law, which shows which Chinese military companies “own or control.”
