The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to bar new drones from Chinese drone manufacturer DJI from operating in the United States, one of a series of measures aimed at China that lawmakers are considering this week.
The bill, which still needs to be approved by the U.S. Senate before it could become law, would prohibit the company’s drones from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure.
It would not prevent existing DJI drones from operating in the United States.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to ban new drones from Chinese drone manufacturer DJI from operating in the United States.
The security risk may, in fact, be a warning that long-term divestment from a strong domestic Drone Industry may eventually lead to an… pic.twitter.com/9f3WO7fFYX
— WORLD AT WAR (@World_At_War_6) September 9, 2024
Lawmakers have repeatedly raised concerns that DJI drones pose national security risks, something the company rejects.
“With this action, Congress will ensure that future versions of DJI drones cannot be imported, marketed or sold in the United States,” said Representative Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
DJI, which sells more than half of all drones in the United States, opposes the bill that it said “restricts the ability of U.S. drone operators to buy and use the right equipment for their work, solely on the basis of the equipment’s country of origin.”
Congress has repeatedly voted to impose new restrictions on Chinese technology and in April voted to require China’s ByteDance to divest to sell its TikTok U.S. assets by January 19.
Another bill approved Monday would bar the Homeland Security Department from buying batteries from six Chinese companies including CATL.
Another bill passed seeks to deter China from invading or imposing a blockade of Taiwan, including one that would publish the assets of top Chinese leaders and cut them and family members off from the U.S. financial system if Beijing took action against Taiwan.
Apart from the curbs on new DJI drones, The U.S. House is also expected to vote later this week on tightening rules barring U.S. electric vehicles tax credits with Chinese content.
In January, new rules took effect limiting Chinese content in batteries eligible for EV tax credits. The House bill would make those limits more stringent.
With less than two months before the 2024 presidential and congressional elections, it is not clear if any China legislation will become law this year.
(REUTERS)
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
His work has featured in national and international publications like the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Global Times and Ashahi Shimbun. But his one constant over all these years, he says, has been the attempt to understand rising India’s place in the world.
He can rustle up a mean salad, his oil-less pepper chicken is to die for, and all it takes is some beer and rhythm and blues to rock his soul.
Talk to him about foreign and strategic affairs, media, South Asia, China, and of course India.
