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The U.S. House of Representatives voted Monday to ban new drones made by Chinese giant DJI from operating in the country after lawmakers voiced national security concerns.
The bill would prohibit the remote control devices from using American communications infrastructure.
“With this action, Congress will ensure that future versions of DJI drones cannot be imported, marketed or sold in the United States,” said Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
The measure wouldn’t affect DJI drones already in America, where the company has sold more than half of all the drones in use.
DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer, has blamed the bill on “baseless allegations and xenophobic fear,” the South China Morning Post reported in June.
On Monday, it said the proposal would unfairly restrict “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,” according to Reuters.
In addition to the drone bill, House lawmakers approved other measures aimed at China, including one that would bar the Department of Homeland Security from buying batteries made by six Chinese companies, Reuters said.
Another would publish lists of assets held by top Chinese officials and cut off their access to the U.S. financial system if Beijing invades or blockades Taiwan.
The bills all need Senate approval before they could be signed into law and with less than two months before November’s presidential and congressional elections it’s unclear if that will happen.
