HONG KONG — One of the Chinese entities blacklisted by the United States for alleged links to a global espionage balloon program is part of a state-owned conglomerate that develops products including anti-drone systems and blimps.
China Electronics Technology Group Corp.’s 48th Research Institute is one of six companies or institutes that the U.S. Commerce Department put on an export blacklist Friday because of ties to People’s Liberation Army aerospace programs.
That followed the U.S. military shooting down a giant Chinese balloon off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month. The U.S. has said China is using high-altitude balloons for intelligence and reconnaissance activities, while Beijing responded by saying the object was a weather-monitoring device that blew off course. Since then, the U.S. has shot down three other objects in its airspace.
