Xiaomi provisionally removed from US military blacklist
A US federal judge has provisionally removed Xiaomi from the military blacklist it was placed on in mid-January via a decree issued by former President Trump. A final decision on the case will follow later.
Rudolph Contreras, the US judge hearing the case, decided in a preliminary judicial decision to ignore the implementation of the Trump decree with regard to Xiaomi. According to the US federal judge, it is likely that the Chinese company will also be permanently removed from the list. “The court is skeptical that sufficient national security interests would be at stake,” Contreras said. To prevent further damage to Xiaomi pending a final ruling, the federal judge decided to temporarily remove the company from the US military blacklist.
Xiaomi informs Chinese media that it is pleased with this temporary decision: “We would like to reiterate that our company operates independently and only manufactures products for consumers. The inclusion on the list of the US Department of Defense was unfounded and we are therefore pleased that the judge followed us in this.
Former US President Trump says nine Chinese companies have close ties to the Chinese military. Therefore, during the last days of his tenure, he placed these companies, including Xiaomi, on a list of the US Department of Defense through a presidential decree. Since November 12 last year, its inclusion on this list means that every US investor has had to stop investing in these listed companies from January 11, 2021 and phase out current investments by November 11, 2021 at the latest. According to the US authorities, the companies on the list are “Communist”. Chinese military companies’ or have close ties with the Chinese military.
Shortly after the announcement of Trump’s decree in January, Xiaomi released a statement declaring it “will take appropriate action” against Trump’s decision.
Update, 6.30 pm: earlier this message stated that American companies had to stop and reduce their investments in these companies with immediate effect from November. This turns out to be incorrect. The article has been adapted accordingly, thanks to SuperDre.