Illustration: Chen Xia/Global Times

Themk US Department of Defense (DoD) removed Chinese firm Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China (AMEC) from its so-called Chinese Military Company (CMC) list, after the company sued the US DoD over the designation, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. 

The removal of AMEC from the blacklist sent the share price of the company on the Chinese A-share market higher on Wednesday, up 1.78 percent at market close. The move not only clears AMEC of the wrong designation, but also sends a positive sign for other Chinese companies facing US crackdowns that they can take legal means to defend their legitimate rights and interests against baseless US claims, an industry expert said. 

Under the guise of protecting national security, various US government departments have created blacklists of Chinese companies, although the accusations against Chinese firms are baseless, said Ma Jihua, a veteran telecom industry observer. 

"Influenced by current political sentiment in the US, they arbitrarily add Chinese companies to various blacklists, even though they cannot provide any concrete evidence," Ma told the Global Times on Wednesday, adding that Chinese firms can take legal action to protect their own rights and interests. "AMEC's case does provide a positive sign that there are legal means for Chinese firms to defend their rights and interests against baseless US claims."

In January 2024, the US DoD added the Chinese firm to its CMC. After "extensive efforts to engage with the DoD in order to clarify the facts and demonstrate that it does not meet any of the CMC criteria" failed to change the US DoD's designation, AMEC announced on August 16 that it had formally filed a lawsuit against the US DoD in the US District Court for the District of Columbia for "unlawfully" designating AMEC as a CMC, the company said in a statement at the time.

Notably, this is the second time AMEC was added to the US DoD's blacklist and subsequently removed. In January 2021, the company was designated as a CMC, but following a petition to the US DoD with sufficient facts and evidence, the company was successfully removed from that list in June 2021, according to the company.   

The company did not respond to the Global Times' request for comment on the US DoD's latest removal as of press time on Wednesday. In addition to AMEC, the US DoD also removed another company, IDG Capital, from its CMC list. The CMC does not carry specific sanctions or direct penalties, but inclusion on the list can cause reputational damage and discourage other companies to work with the listed firms, according to Bloomberg.



Artificial barriers

Some politicians in the US are still continuing to push for restrictions on China-US economic and trade cooperation. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the US Congress is set to vote in the coming days on legislation restricting US investments in China as part of a bill to fund government operations through mid-March. 

The bill expands on restrictions issued by the US Treasury Department in October on US investments in artificial intelligence and other technology sectors in China that it deems a threat to US national security. The bill also requires so-called national security risk studies on Chinese-made consumers routers and modems and reviews of Chinese real estate purchases, according to Reuters.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Wednesday that China-US economic and trade cooperation benefits each other and the people of both countries. 

To overstretch the concept of national security and deliberately obstruct normal economic and trade exchange for political agenda contravenes the principles of market economy, fair competition and free trade, which the US claims to champion. Such moves also destabilize global industrial and supply chains and do not serve any party's interests, Lin said. 

China urges relevant US politicians to stop politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues and foster necessary conditions for the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, the spokesperson said.



Room for cooperation

While some US politicians will likely continue to push for more crackdown measures against Chinese firms, there are also areas where China and the US can cooperate, according to Chen Fengying, an observer and former director of the Institute of World Economic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"The US side also realizes that without China, it can't solve many global issues. So even as some politicians will continue to push for more crackdown measures against China, there will also be areas where the US side wants to cooperate with China," Chen told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

China has maintained a consistent approach toward the US, in which the Chinese side remains open to dialogue and cooperation, while resolutely responding to US crackdowns. Reflecting such an approach, over the past week the Chinese and US economic and financial working groups held separate meetings, during which the two sides exchanged views on a wide range of issues, including macroeconomic policies. But the Chinese side also raised concerns about the US' economic and trade restrictions.  

Chen said that while Washington's overall attempt to contain China is unlikely to change anytime soon, the tactics under different US administrations may change and the areas of focus for cooperation may be different. "China will likely take the matter on its merits and pursue dialogue and cooperation where we can, while firmly responding to the US' crackdown measures in high-tech and other areas," she said.