Hikvision thermal camera Credit: Lutsenko_Oleksandr, Shutterstock
In recent years, the U.S. has added a growing number of Chinese companies, including some leading tech companies, to the U.S. Entity List, which makes it harder for those companies to do business with Americans. The list has been an ongoing source of tension in U.S.-China relations, and this month, China's state-backed Global Times reported that China “is ready to take a series of countermeasures,” including adding American companies such as Apple, Boeing, and Cisco to its own list — an “unreliable entity list.”
It remains to be seen what, exactly, that means, but in this week’s Big Picture, we explain how the American Entity List started, why it matters to U.S.-China relations, and introduce some of the key Chinese companies on the list.
Background
Location of entities on the Entity ListData: Code of Federal Regulations (15 C.F.R. Part 744)
The Entity List was created in 1997 and was initially intended to address the risk of U.S. exports being diver
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
Did Eric Dai expose a Chinese scheme to steal critical military technology? Or did he steal millions of dollars from a Chinese company by exploiting geopolitical tensions? It's not entirely clear, but Dai's saga hits all the high notes of current U.S.-China tensions, including convoluted plots to illicitly acquire U.S. semiconductor technology and extraterritorial schemes to harass, intimidate and coerce the Chinese diaspora. What is clear is that, for Dai, who founded a successful Chinese investment firm but is now seeking asylum in the U.S., it feels like World War III.
The former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia talks about why engagement hasn’t failed, it just hasn’t succeeded yet; why strategic empathy is so hard to do; and why the U.S. needs an approach to...
