DJI sues U.S. Defense Department over Chinese military company designation

DJI, the world’s largest drone company, is suing the U.S. Department of Defense for designating it as a “Chinese military company.” In 2022, the Pentagon added DJI to its regularly updated list of companies believed to have significant ties to the Chinese military.

Being placed on the list serves as a warning to U.S. entities and companies about the national security risks associated with doing business with these firms.

Consequently, the Shenzhen-based company requested a U.S. District Judge in Washington on Friday (Oct. 18), to order its removal from the Pentagon’s list, saying it “is neither owned nor controlled by the Chinese military.”

The dronemaker claims, it has “lost business deals, been stigmatized as a national security threat, and been banned from contracting with multiple federal government agencies,” and that its staff “now suffer frequent and pervasive stigmatization” and are “repeatedly harassed and insulted in public places.”

The company added, “U.S. and international customers have terminated existing contracts with DJI and refuse to enter into new ones.”

This isn’t the first time DJI has faced scrutiny from U.S. authorities. As early as 2017, the U.S. Army instructed its units to stop using DJI drones, and in 2019, the U.S. Interior Department grounded its fleet of DJI drones due to concerns over spying risks.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce added DJI to its Entity List, prohibiting U.S. companies from exporting technology to the drone manufacturer after it “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.”

Earlier this week, DJI reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is blocking imports of its drones, citing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. This law, signed by President Biden in 2021, prohibits the import of goods from China that are produced using forced labor.

The legislation was drafted in response to allegations of China’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority, who are widely reported to be subjected to forced labor, primarily in the Xinjiang region.

Featured image: DJI

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