Washington [US], November 25 (ANI): The United States on Wednesday blacklisted 27 foreign entities, including 12 from China, over national security concerns and foreign policy interests of the United States.

"In this final rule, the BIS amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding twenty-seven entities to the Entity List. These twenty-seven entities have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States," the US Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said on Wednesday.

Apart from the 12 Chinese entities, the list contains entities from Japan, Pakistan and Singapore, as well as one entity based in Russia.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo in a statement said: "Global trade and commerce should support peace, prosperity, and good-paying jobs, not national security risks. Today's actions will help prevent the diversion of U.S. technologies to the PRC's and Russia's military advancement and activities of non-proliferation concern like Pakistan's unsafeguarded nuclear activities or ballistic missile program. The Department of Commerce is committed to effectively using export controls to protect our national security."The list includes three affiliates of China's Corad Technology Limited, an entity blacklisted in 2019, in China, Singapore and Japan for their role in sales of technology from the US and other Western nations to Iran's military and space programs, Russian news agency Sputnik reported. They also cooperated with North Korean front companies, Chinese government and defense industry subordinate entities, according to the document.

Another eight entities were blacklisted for their participation in the military modernization of the People's Liberation Army, and attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of military applications, the document added.

According to the report, the rest of the entities were designated for their role in Pakistan's ballistic missile program and "unsafeguarded nuclear program.""The End-User Review Committee (ERC) determined that the conduct of the above described twenty-seven entities raises sufficient concerns that prior review, via the imposition of a license requirement for exports, reexports, or transfers (in-country) of all items subject to the EAR involving these twenty-seven entities, is appropriate," the rule noted.

The ERC also decided that the possible issuance of license denials or the possible imposition of license conditions on shipments to these entities will protect US national security or foreign policy interests, it added. (ANI)