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China sets up blacklist of foreign “unreliable entities”

China's Ministry of Commerce, or MOFCOM, has an announced the establishment of a list of “unreliable entities” which the government says are foreign companies that damage their Chinese counterparts. According to MOFCOM spokesman Gao Feng in an announcement on May 31, the list is of those foreign companies, organizations or persons which China deems to have “severely damaged the legitimate interests” of Chinese firms by not obeying market rules, violating contracts, or blocking or cutting off supplies for non-commercial reasons. “Necessary measures will be taken” against those on the list, says Gao. To date, no companies have been identified as being on the list, but in light of the U.S. administration's ban on companies doing business with Huawei, companies that have acted on the ban such as Google, Qualcomm, Toshiba, SoftBank and ARM Holdings, may be eligible.