U.S. sanctions six Chinese tech corporations for supporting spy balloon programs

WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department announced a recent round of sanctions Friday targeting six Chinese aerospace corporations that it identified as supporting the nation’s military’s reconnaissance balloon program.

The firms will join a growing list of corporations based in China that the U.S. says pose serious threats to national security.

The sanctions announcement got here just hours after an American military F-22 shot down the second “high altitude object” to enter U.S. airspace prior to now week.

“The PRC’s use of high-altitude balloons violates our sovereignty and threatens U.S. national security,” said Alan Estevez, undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

“Today’s motion makes clear that entities that seek to harm U.S. national security and sovereignty might be cut off from accessing U.S. technologies,” Estevez said in an announcement from the Commerce Department.

The craft that was shot down Friday was floating off the coast of Alaska. Last weekend, a high altitude Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

The White House was hesitant to characterize the aircraft involved within the Friday incident as a balloon, nevertheless.

“We’re calling this an object because that is the perfect description we have now immediately,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, adding that U.S. officials didn’t yet know which nation or group was answerable for it.

The brand new sanctions reflect the administration’s renewed focus this week on China’s unmanned airship surveillance programs.

“Today’s motion demonstrates our concerted efforts to discover and disrupt the PRC’s use of surveillance balloons, which have violated the airspace of the US and greater than forty countries,” said Matthew Axelrod, assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement.