This Friday, July 24, China placed fourteen European companies on its dual-use export control list, immediately cutting off these companies’ access to any Chinese-origin products deemed sensitive. The Commerce Department is calling for national security and nonproliferation protections, thereby extending to new industrial players the slate war already underway with the European Union over sanctions against Russia.
Three French organizations appear in the announcement: Savoyard chemist InPACT, the III-V Lab at the Polytechnic Institute and drone specialist Cavok UAS, based in Sainte-Meneulde (Marne). All three are likely to operate in dual-use technology segments where the line between civilian and military applications is thin: industrial processes, advanced semiconductors, remotely piloted aircraft systems. Beijing is now banning them from importing this type of Chinese-origin goods, as well as blocking indirect transfers through foreign partners, suddenly complicating their supply and cooperation projects.
InPACT produces indium phosphide wafers that serve as the basis for components for telecommunications and microelectronics. III-V Laboratory is an established player in the field of semiconductors required for sensors, optoelectronics and advanced telecommunications. Cavok UAS develops drones and systems that can be used for surveillance and reconnaissance. Beijing now lists them as organizations whose access to Chinese dual technologies should be filtered or even interrupted.