The US is including six Chinese language firms to an export blacklist over what it argues are hyperlinks to a military-backed world balloon espionage program, the Commerce Division stated, after a high-altitude balloon traversed the US earlier than being shot down final week.

The six firms have been added to the checklist for his or her hyperlinks to the Individuals’s Liberation Military aerospace packages “together with airships and balloons and associated supplies and parts,” the division stated. It stated the Chinese language navy is utilizing high-altitude balloons “for intelligence and reconnaissance actions” that go in opposition to US national-security pursuits.

The designations have been introduced after the alleged Chinese language spy balloon was recognized over Montana final week earlier than it transited the US and was shot down off the coast of South Carolina. China has insisted the balloon was a weather-monitoring system that blew off beam, and has accused the US of over-hyping the episode.

President Joe Biden stated the alleged espionage incident didn’t materially damage US-China relations, however that it was a violation of US sovereignty and that the US would rise up for its nationwide safety in opposition to such threats. He’s come beneath hearth from Republican lawmakers who stated the balloon ought to have by no means been allowed to traverse the continental US for every week earlier than it was shot down final Saturday.

The so-called entity checklist is a de facto export blacklist that solely permits US exports when the federal government grants licenses. It wasn’t instantly clear how deeply the six firms are linked to US exporters or how a lot their operations will probably be affected by the designations.

The six firms have been recognized as Beijing Nanjiang Aerospace Know-how Co., China Electronics Know-how Group Company forty eighth Analysis Institute, Dongguan Lingkong Distant Sensing Know-how Co., Eagles Males Aviation Science and Know-how Group Co., Guangzhou Tian-Hai-Xiang Aviation Know-how Co., and Shanxi Eagles Males Aviation Science and Know-how Group Co.