China criticizes US for placing dozens of firms on export restriction list

China expressed opposition and condemnation over the United States' placing dozens of Chinese companies on the export restriction list, vowing to take necessary measures to safeguard the lawful rights of Chinese companies.

According to reports, the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security added six subsidiaries of Inspur Group, China's leading cloud computing and big data service provider, and dozens of other Chinese entities to its export restriction list on Tuesday.

The bureau claimed that these entities "acquire or attempt to acquire US-origin items in support of supercomputer projects for the Chinese government and/or military."

"We urged Washington to stop abusing various kinds of sanctions lists to unreasonably oppress Chinese companies," Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a daily news briefing on Wednesday.

The US has abused entity list and other export controls to impose illegal unilateral sanctions under the pretext of endangering US national security and violating US foreign policy, Guo said.

This is a typical hegemonic behavior that severely violates international law and the basic norms governing international relations, harms lawful rights and interests of Chinese companies, and undermines the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, he said.

The US should stop overstretching the concept of national security, stop politicizing trade and tech issues and using them as a weapon and a tool, Guo said.