FT: US puts drone maker DJI on investor blacklist

The United States has placed Chinese drone maker DJI on an investor blacklist, the Financial Times reports. The country is doing so because the company is said to be involved in monitoring the Uyghurs in the country.

US investors are no longer allowed to own shares in the companies that have been added to the blacklist. In addition to DJI, seven other Chinese companies have been put on the list, also for alleged involvement in the surveillance of the Uyghurs in the country. That writes the Financial Times on the basis of conversations with two anonymous sources. According to the business paper, America plans to add “dozens” of Chinese companies on Thursday, some of which would be engaged in biotechnology.

DJI is the global market leader in commercial drones. The manufacturer was previously placed on the American ‘entity list’. The reason was that DJI would have played a role in human rights violations and oppression of populations in China. Companies that are placed on the entity list will be banned from trading with America. This means that American companies are no longer allowed to do business with or purchase products from the companies on this list.

The other seven companies that have been blacklisted from investors are photo recognition company Megvii, facial recognition company CloudWalk Technology, supercomputer manufacturer Sugon, cybersecurity firm Xiamen Meiya Pico, AI research firm Yitu Technology, telecommunications company Leon Technology and VMS provider NetPosa. The US government has not yet confirmed the addition of these eight companies to the list.