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China has slapped export controls on a wide range of drones and drone components, a move with potential impact on the Ukraine war and on public security applications in many western countries.
“The risk of some high-specification and high-performance commercial-use drones being converted to military use continues to rise,” the Chinese commerce ministry said on Monday.
As a leading drone producer and “responsible great power”, China had decided to broaden restrictions on the export of unmanned aerial vehicles, the ministry said.
The controls, which take effect on September 1, follow repeated appeals by EU officials to China to restrict supplies of military or dual-use technology to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have successfully used commercial drone models with self-designed payloads to target Russian military units. But Russia’s military has also increasingly relied on UAVs for attacks on Ukraine.
China has urged both parties to seek peace talks. But Beijing’s growing military co-operation with Moscow, its refusal to condemn the invasion, and its repeated statements in support of Russian security concerns have undermined its claim to be neutral on the conflict.
China has a dominant role in the global drone supply chain and Shenzhen-based company DJI is the world’s largest commercial drone maker by shipments.
One notice issued on Monday by China’s commerce ministry, customs administration, military-use technology regulator and the military’s equipment development department limits exports of drones carrying narrowly defined equipment suitable for military use such as powerful radars or hyperspectral cameras.
But another notice from the four departments covers a broad range of drone components, and industry executives said this rule was expected to have an impact on commercial-use drones as well.
“The focus of the controls is dual-use components,” said a DJI sales manager, adding that while ordinary DJI products would not be affected, parts and some high-performance models might be restricted.
In a statement, DJI said it had always strictly complied with export laws and regulations in China and any other jurisdictions where the company operated.
“While we are evaluating the specific impact to our business from these new regulations, we would like to point out . . . drones and drone-related equipment can be exported normally after fulfilling relevant compliance criteria as long as they are used for legitimate civilian purposes,” said DJI.
“China’s modest expansion of the scope of its drone control . . . is an important measure to demonstrate our stance as a responsible major country, to implement global security initiatives and maintain world peace,” the commerce ministry said. Authorities had notified relevant countries and regions, it added.
The controls would affect some drones for the consumer market and no civilian drones could be exported for military purposes, the ministry said.
Analysts believe the widespread use of DJI drones means the new controls could potentially disrupt the sale of drones for applications such as domestic security and agricultural applications in many western countries.
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