The United States has announced new sanctions targeting the Chinese company Integrity Technology Group, which is engaged in computer programming, according to a statement from the Department of the Treasury.
Western officials have previously accused the Beijing-based company of being behind a large group of Chinese hackers known as “Flax Typhoon.”
During a cybersecurity conference last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that Integrity Technology claims to be an information technology company but also “gathers intelligence and conducts surveillance for Chinese government intelligence agencies.”
At the time, Chinese officials accused the United States and its allies of reaching “an unjustifiable conclusion and making baseless accusations against China.”
The U.S. Treasury’s decision comes after China announced export control measures on Thursday against 28 U.S. companies and added 10 more American firms to a list of entities banned from doing business in China.
Most of the American companies on the list are contractors to the U.S. defense sector. These include Lockheed Martin and five of its subsidiaries; General Dynamics and three of its subcontractors; three Raytheon subcontractors; a Boeing-linked firm; as well as several other dozen companies.
Chinese companies are immediately prohibited from selling these U.S. firms dual-use goods—products that have both military and everyday civilian uses.
However, experts say that since American military contractors typically do not engage in trade with companies from adversarial states, the new restrictions are unlikely to have any significant impact on the American companies affected by China’s sanctions.
“These sanctions will not affect these companies. They do not do business with China,” said Raymond Kuo, director at the RAND Corporation, in an interview with Voice of America.
Nevertheless, he noted that the sanctions demonstrate China’s readiness to retaliate against U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies, as the Biden administration has done several times in recent months.
“This decision shows that the Chinese are willing to respond to any U.S. actions,” Kuo said. “If we add our trade sanctions—President Trump has threatened tariffs as high as 60 percent—then they may retaliate in different forms.”
Meanwhile, 10 companies linked to American defense contractors, which have been placed on the list of entities, are now banned from importing or exporting goods to or from China, as well as from making investments there. The executives of these companies are also prohibited from traveling to China, and their work or residence permits have been revoked.
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, these companies have sold weapons to Taiwan. The Ministry stated that the new restrictions aim to “safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
In a statement to Voice of America, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said that the authorities considered the 28 companies facing measures to “pose a threat to China’s national security.”
