The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security this week placed 32 foreign companies, including 23 in China, on its blacklist of sanctioned firms for activities that threaten America’s security.
Included among the Chinese entities was the Aerospace Information Research Institute that BIS said in announcing the sanctions is supporting China’s high-altitude spy balloon program.
In 2023, a Chinese surveillance balloon flew undetected over sensitive military and missile bases in the U.S., setting off a U.S. backlash over Chinese spying and violations of sovereignty.
The balloon was eventually shot down over the Atlantic near South Carolina by an F-22 jet but not until passing thousands of miles over the country
China claimed the balloon was a harmless weather monitoring craft and denounced the shootdown.
However, an extensive amount of electronic spying gear was recovered from the downed balloon, and the Biden administration kept the details of the equipment secret to avoid upsetting Beijing.
A report by the Indo-Pacific Command’s legal office stated that Chinese high-altitude balloon spying operations have violated international law and the sovereignty of more than 40 countries across five continents.
U.S. officials disclosed that the balloon was equipped to collect signals intelligence for a People’s Liberation Army-run surveillance program that targeted more than 40 nations, the report said.
The report said Chinese assertions that the balloon did not violate sovereignty were false and had no basis in international law, as the balloon had a propulsion and steering system and so was subject to foreign aircraft rules.
China “sought to justify violation of U.S. sovereignty by characterizing its [high-altitude balloon] as a ‘civilian airship’ used for ‘meteorological’ purposes while blaming ‘force majeure’ for ‘unintended entry’ — not only are these claims false, they do not provide a legal justification even if true,” the report said.
The spy balloons are said to be a Chinese tactic for collecting intelligence from “near space” instead of using more expensive satellites.
“By propagating the term ‘near space’ in various publications, the PRC likely aims to foment a gray zone in which to execute unlawful surveillance under a false veneer of legitimacy,” the report said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
“There is no ‘near space’ in international law — only airspace and outer space, and [high-altitude balloons] fly in airspace.”
