Last week, the US Senate and then President Joe Biden approved a ban on the Chinese company TikTok in the US if its parent company ByteDance does not sell it. It looks like another Chinese company – drone manufacturer DJI – is next in line to be banned. The Countering CCP Drones Act, introduced by the Chamber of Energy and Commerce in March, could significantly limit DJI’s operations in the US.
If passed, the bill would add drones made by DJI to the Federal Communications Commission’s list of subjects covered by the Secure and Reliable Communications Networks Act. As part of it, communication equipment or services that “pose risks to national security” are prohibited from operating in the US. Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE are already on this list.
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Rep. Elise Stefanik says government agencies discovered DJI was providing China with information on US “critical infrastructure.” She emphasized that “DJI poses unacceptable risks to national security, and it is time to remove drones manufactured by communist China from America.”
It should be noted that the US government has already taken action against DJI. In 2020, the US Department of Commerce placed DJI on its list, preventing US-based companies from exporting technology to the company. DJI has also been accused of monitoring China’s Muslim Uyghur minority. In 2022, however, the Ministry of Defense included the company in its “black list”. “DJI” itself, however, emphasizes that the US legislators refer to inaccurate and unfounded statements about its operation.
