Chinese drone maker DJI sues Pentagon for blacklisting it

Chinese drone maker DJI announced on Saturday that it would sue the US Department of Defense, criticizing Washington for listing it “wrongly” on a blacklist of Chinese military companies. In recent years, DJI has been in Washington’s crosshairs, particularly for its role in monitoring ethnic minorities in China as well as in the war in Ukraine, where its drones are used extensively by both sides.

“On October 18, DJI filed a lawsuit challenging its misdesignation by the Department of Defense (DoD) as a Chinese military company”declared DJI in a press release sent to AFP. The United States added DJI to its list of Chinese companies linked to the military in 2022. In its press release, DJI claims to have attempted to “dialogue with the Department of Defense for more than 16 months”but that she now has “found that she had no choice but to seek relief in federal court”.

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“DJI is not owned or controlled by the Chinese military, and the DoD itself acknowledges that DJI makes consumer and commercial drones, not military drones. DJI is a private company and should not be misclassified as a military company.argued the company which dominates the drone market. For years, Washington has implemented measures targeting Chinese technology companies for reasons of national security, and out of fear that their technologies could be used by Beijing for military purposes.

Last month, the US Commerce Department decided to ban the sale of vehicles capable of connecting to devices that incorporate Chinese technology, again citing national security risks. Similarly, export restrictions on microchip manufacturing equipment aim to prevent China from acquiring sensitive components that could be used for advanced weapons and technologies, such as artificial intelligence. DJI, founded in 2006, is the world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer, and also controls a large share of the high-end drone market.