China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday the inclusion of a major US biotech company on its “unreliable entity list” while stating that the firm’s “discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises” harmed the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
Leading American genomic sequencing firm Illumina is the first biotech company on Beijing’s list. More than 60 per cent of the world’s genetic sequencing data is generated by Illumina’s machines.
After being blacklisted by Beijing, the company’s stock price fell 5 per cent.
The US has been a world leader in biotechnology. China’s listing of Illumina as an unreliable entity marks a turning point in the life sciences branch of the superpowers’ tech war.
The development reflects both China’s biotech advances that move to close the gap with US scientists and firms and Beijing’s push to protect its national security concerns and commercial interests.
On September 9, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that sought to restrict business dealings with China’s Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and several other biotech companies on national security grounds, prompting condemnation from Beijing. In October, Politico reported that the bill had advanced in Congress because of lobbying efforts by Illumina.
