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Jun Mai

Liu Zhen

Hayley Wong

China on Wednesday expanded export restrictions on a range of drones and drone parts with potential military applications, further tightening last year’s controls on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sales.
The list was rolled out by a range of agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, China Customs and the People’s Liberation Army’s equipment department.
The measures will take effect from September 1.
The controlled parts include high-precision inertial measuring units, synthetic-aperture radar and engines with an output above 16 kilowatts as well as wireless communication with a range beyond 50km (31 miles).


Consoles that can control more than 10 drones at the same time will also be restricted, as will drone jammers for civilian use with an effective range of more than 5km.
The directive issued on Wednesday said Chinese exporters would face a penalty for exporting items not listed in the ban if they knew they would be used for military means or terrorism.
“The Chinese government firmly supports Chinese companies conducting international trade and cooperation of drones in the civilian area [and] oppose civilian drones to be used for non-peaceful means,” the ministry said in a statement explaining the ban.
But in an apparent swipe at US sanctions, it also said: “We oppose the imposition of illegal sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals by certain countries using the excuse of [proliferation of weapon-capable] drones.”
The statement said the move would better safeguard China’s security and interests, and better serve Beijing’s obligation regarding the non-proliferation of weapons while benefiting the security of the global supply chain.
The directive came a day after the US Treasury Department added several individuals and entities based in mainland China and Hong Kong to its sanction list for procuring key components, “including accelerometers and gyroscopes”, for Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programme.
It also came after Shenzhen-based DJI, the biggest drone maker, was banned from using communications infrastructure in the US as part of the “Countering CCP Drones Act”, part of the annual National Defence Authorisation Act passed by the US Congress in mid-July.
China is one of the world’s major civilian drone makers, with some Chinese products frequently reported used in military conflicts around the world, such as in the war in Ukraine.




Both Russia and Ukraine have reportedly used Chinese made “civilian drones” for various purposes, such as surveillance, communication, strikes and suicide attacks.
The US and its allies have accused China of providing key dual-use parts, including drone parts, to Russia’s military industries, describing China as a “decisive enabler”.
Elsewhere, Italian authorities this month reportedly intercepted and seized two Chinese-made military drones that were destined for Libya and disguised as wind turbine equipment.
Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor, said Beijing’s new list of controls was aimed at preventing “dual-use technologies serving military purposes”.
“We have to regulate the destination of these goods [to ensure] that those engaging in wars cannot import them,” he said, adding that the new rules also prevented the “technology transfer” of dual-use drones.
China released a “temporary notice” on the same date last year – July 31 – to ban a series of drones with the potential for military applications.
The notice included export controls on civilian UAVs of certain specifications – considered to have potential for military uses – for “security reasons”. It required special government permits for drones with maximum out-of-sight controllable operation time of longer than 30 minutes, and a maximum take-off weight exceeding 7kg (15lbs).
It also banned drones from carrying powerful radios, advanced cameras, payload dropping or throwing devices, laser locaters or any other “unverified payload”.
The revision of the notice suggested that the control on the export of drones and drone parts “will persist”, Song said.
He said the revision was motivated in part by the wide use of drones in the war in Ukraine.


“From China’s perspective, we do not want to … add fuel to the fire of the war between Russia and Ukraine. That’s not what we want to see. So we will impose restrictions on the export of these sensitive products.”
According to official customs data, the top buyers of Chinese drones in 2023 were the Netherlands, the US and Denmark, with Russia ranked lower than 130.
Some of the key components, such as radar and infrared thermal imagers, exported to Russia accounted for a small number of exports, according to China’s official customs figures.
The Ministry of Commerce’s statement on Wednesday said the latest export control was an optimising adjustment to last year’s measures after a wide range of stakeholders had input and the situation was carefully assessed.
The statement said China would “continue to track and assess the situation of drone exports and make timely adjustments and improvements” to its policies.


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Military

Beijing says move will help safeguard the country’s security and interests, and better serve its obligation regarding non-proliferation of weapons


Beijing says move will help safeguard the country’s security and interests, and better serve its obligation regarding non-proliferation of weapons.
