Entity List

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in the Department of Commerce (Commerce) added 24 Chinese companies to the Entity List for their role in helping the Chinese military construct and militarize the internationally condemned artificial islands in the South China Sea. Despite protests from the United States and other countries, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been rapidly building the artificial islands since 2013, enabling the Communist Chinese Party’s (CCP) militarization of disputed outposts in the South China Sea to undermine the sovereign rights of U.S. partners in the region. “The United States, China’s neighbors, and the international community have rebuked the CCP’s sovereignty claims to the South China Sea and have condemned the building of artificial islands for the Chinese military,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. “The entities designated today have played a significant role in China’s provocative construction of these artificial islands and must be held accountable.” Since 2013, the CCP has dredged and constructed more than 3,000 acres across seven features in the South China Sea, which include air defense and anti-ship missile features. In addition, the PRC’s dredging and construction of certain outposts violates the sovereign rights of the Republic of the Philippines, as determined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in its July 2016 award in a case brought by the Philippines against the PRC. In the Entity List additions, Commerce determined these entities enabled China to construct and militarize disputed outposts in the South China Sea.