SMIC Photo: VCG

Chinese semiconductor maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has stressed that it has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture anythingfor military use, following news that the Trump administration is considering adding SMIC and other Chinese companies to a defense blacklist. 

The move aims to "raise tough questions" for a Biden administration on the eve of taking power, experts surmised, saying that the Trump administrationis trying to create difficulties for Biden to manage China-US relations.  

According to a Reuters report, the Trump administration is poised to add SMIC and Chinese state-owned oil and gas producer China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, restricting their right to purchase US products and technologies. 

Two other Chinese companies, China Construction Technology and China International Engineering Consulting, will also be added to the list, the report noted. 

In immediate response to the news, SMIC said that the company continues to "engage constructively and openly with the US government," according to a statement it sent to the Global Times on Monday. 

It also stressed that the company manufactures semiconductors and provides services solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses. "The company has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses," read the statement. 

In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday, CNOOC Ltd said it "has not yet received any official notice or decision from any relevant US government agency," in response to reports that its controlling shareholder China National Offshore Oil Corp might be added to a US blacklist of companies with alleged ties to the Chinese military.

Bai Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerce's International Market Research Institute, said that the Trump administration's accusations against Chinese companies have been "arbitrary" and "have no factual basis at all. "

According to Bai, Trump is seeking to force the next US president into hardline positions on China. 

"It is widely predicted that the Biden administration's policies toward China will be more balanced compared with Trump's. But if these Chinese companies are put ona blacklist, it will make it very troublesome for the new president to remove themby vote, therefore creating a large obstacletodiplomatic relations between China and the US under Biden's presidency," Bai said. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a recent press conference that what the US has done violated the principle of market competition and international trade rules, which the US havepreviously crowed about. This will eventually hurt the national interests and image of the US. 

Global Times