After cracks appeared in China’s economy, the U.S. Department of Commerce removed 27 People’s Republic of China (PRC) companies from an export control list (The Unverified List) — intended to prevent unknown and nefarious use of US tech and products. Here are the unsavory connections we found.
Company 1: Beijing Zhonghehangxun Technology (aka Beijing Vistek Technology Company Ltd) is a startup company within the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Center for Research on Intelligent Perception and Computing (CRIPAC) (ie AI Research).
CRIPAC is involved in “large-scale crowd surveillance systems [with application to] the frontlines of anti-terrorist and [safeguarding] stability”.
Company 2: Nanjing Gova Technology is a PRC defense contractor. Documents (with company’s name: 南京高华科技股份有限公司) dated June, 2023 describe the involvement in “China’s aerospace industry” and in “various new-generation fighter aircraft” as well as rockets and weapons.
Company 3: Hunan DK Laser is a PRC defense contractor. The company owns Changsha DK Laser, which describes its business as including “social and public safety equipment”.
Company 4: Beijing SWT Science manufactures optical components for ZTE, a partially state-owned company that has plead guilty to illegally exporting US technology to Iran; it also operates a joint lab with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Semiconductors.Wang Gong (王功), the Executive Director of Beijing SWT Science is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – a leadership body that integrates with the CCP and functions in domestic control and foreign influence.
Company 5: Guangzhou GRG Metrology & Test Company Limited (GRGT) is a defense contractor and involved in the PRC’s military-civil fusion program. It is tightly wired into the CCP infrastructure. For example, here’s a document describing a meeting among the company’s CCP leadership, “General Manager Comrade Huang Dunpeng”, and the Party’s Discipline and Inspection Commission, which emphasized “implementing comprehensive and strict party governance”)
GRGT’s second largest beneficial owner, Grg Banking Equipment Company Limited (广州广电运通金融电子股份有限公司) is a state security contractor.
Company 6: Shuang Xiang (Fujian) Electronics Company Limited is an optoelectronics company. Uses of its products include public security, prisons, smart city projects, and safe city projects. The CCP “Safe city” concept is a euphemism for a high-tech surveillance city. He Qing, the company’s director is also the majority shareholder of Fujian Fuguang Technology Group Company Limited (福建福光科技集团有限公司).This company’s 2019 IPO announcement listed known CCP surveillance tech venders Hikvision and Huawei as clients and stated that “the company is an important domestic military-civilian integration enterprise”. Relevant sections of the doc.
Company 7: Qingdao Sci-Tech Innovation Quality Testing Co., Ltd. Is 100.00% owned by Standard Testing Group Company Ltd (Standard Group). The web presence of Standard Group and its president, Han Liachao (韩连超), show strong commitment to the CCP and towing the party line.
Company 8: Sino Superconductor Technology Company performs Research and Development and is 13.6% owned by the PRC government via Tsinghua University Education Foundation. Tsinghua, Xi Jinping’s alma mater, is actively involved in attempts to evade U.S. export controls, and works closely with the CCP’s military. See these articles: https://unitracker.aspi.org.au/universities/tsinghua-university/ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-aims-particle-accelerators-build-105137092.html (About using advanced optical tech to manufacture cutting-edge microchips in a way that circumvents sanctions)
Companies 9 and 10: Finally, Hunan University is associated with several major defense laboratories. For example, it runs the US-sanctioned National Supercomputing Center in Changsha in conjunction with the Chinese military. It also employs at least one professor whose public profile indicates he is a “distinguished expert from the Ministry of State Security” (the PRC’s foreign and domestic spy agency). Nanchang University also has military connections, including hosting a “Military Industry Research Institute”.
