As the Department of Defense (DoD) adds the businesses to its official blacklist of Chinese enterprises and designates them as a “Chinese military corporation,” it appears that DJI is struggling even more in the US. Since at least 2017, when the US Army forbade the use of DJI drones due to alleged cyber vulnerabilities, DJI has had issues with the US government. In 2020, DJI was subsequently included on the US Economic Blacklist.
As a result of its connections to the Chinese government, the Department of Defense has identified a number of businesses, including DJI, that it believes pose a threat to national security.
In the announcement, the Department of Defense states that it is “determined to highlight and counter the PRC Military-Civil Fusion strategy, which supports the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) modernization goals by ensuring that its access to cutting-edge technologies and expertise are acquired and developed by PRC companies, universities, and research programmes that appear to be civilian entities.”
Among other things, “Section 1260H instructs the Department to start identifying Military-Civil Fusion contributors acting directly or indirectly in the United States.” The reporting requirements for “Chinese Communist Party military firms operating in the United States” are expanded and modernised by Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed in 2021. According to the legislation, the list must be published and updated yearly by the secretary of defence.
DJI responded to its listing on the list by publishing a rebuttal that contests the listing.
“DJI stands alone as the only drone manufacturer to explicitly condemn and aggressively oppose the use of our products for military purposes, including stopping all business operations in Russia and Ukraine to attempt to keep our drones out of the conflict there. There is no justification for DJI’s inclusion on the Defense Department’s list of “Chinese military enterprises,” the business claims.
