At The End Of The Administration, Trump Signs Orders To Watch Over Chinese Drones

Presiden AS Donald Trump (Instagram/@realdonaldtrump)

JAKARTA - United States (US) President Donald Trump on Monday, January 18 signed an executive order directing US agencies to assess any security risks from Chinese-made drones. The drones are in the US government fleet and are expected to be removed soon.

Quoting Reuters, Tuesday, January 19, Trump directed all US agencies to unravel the security risks posed by a fleet of government drones made by Chinese companies. Not only drones from China. Trump also mentioned the possible dangers of drones made in other countries that he deems as foreign enemies, including Russia, Iran and North Korea (North Korea).

Trump's order also directed the agency to outline "potential steps that could be taken to reduce this risk, including, if necessary, stopping all federal use of (drones) and the immediate removal of (drones) from federal service.”

In December 2020, the US Commerce Department added China's SZ DJI Technology Co, the world's largest drone maker, to the US government's economic blacklist. The addition of the company along with dozens of other Chinese companies.

DJI said they were disappointed with the US Department of Commerce decision. But he noted that "customers in America can continue to buy and use DJI products normally."

"DJI is disappointed with the US Department of Commerce's decision ... Customers in America can continue to purchase and use DJI products normally," a company representative said in an emailed statement.

In early January, Trump also signed an executive order banning the use of eight Chinese-made apps. This order will be executed by the US Department of Commerce to determine which transactions will be prohibited. The applications in question are Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Walet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay and WPS Office.

"The United States must take aggressive action against those who develop or control software applications connected to China to protect our national security," said a senior US official.

Chinese drone restrictions

The Trump administration has not restricted the use of drones once in a while. In January 2020, the US Department of State also banned about 800 Chinese-made drones but said it would allow their use in emergency situations. US Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt in October 2020 ordered a halt to additional purchases of Chinese-made drones.

In May 2019, the US Department of Homeland Security warned US companies about the risk of corporate data from Chinese-made drones. In its notification, DHS said US officials have "strong concerns about any technology product that carries American data into the territory of an authoritarian state that allows its intelligence services to have unrestricted access to that data or misuse that access."

Tensions between the US and China are rising amid the handling of COVID-19, the throwing of sanctions, trade wars and the enactment of China's National Security Act in Hong Kong.