Washington (AFP)
The US Department of the Interior has banned theft of drones made in China or with Chinese components, devices suspected by Washington of being a risk to national security.
Minister David Bernhardt "reconsider the drones program" of the department and "ordered that drones made in China or with Chinese components be grounded," said a spokesman in a statement Thursday, without specifying the reason for this review.
The ministry owns 810 drones, 786 made in China and 24 in the United States with Chinese parts.
The Chinese company DJI is the leader of this technology with 70% of the world market.
The directive does not concern appliances "currently used for emergencies, such as firefighting, relief operations and natural disasters that could threaten lives and property," he said.
In the name of national security, the Trump administration has already banned US companies from selling advanced equipment to Huawei, suspected of spying for Beijing.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, a former Chinese army engineer, has repeatedly rejected the charges.
In September, senators introduced into Congress a bill that would prohibit the purchase by US government agencies of drones manufactured in countries posing risks to national security, including China.
In May, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a warning note against the potential risk posed by Chinese drones.
The US government is "very concerned about technology products that introduce US data into the territory of an authoritarian state and allow its intelligence services to freely access or otherwise abuse this data," the statement said. note, quoted by the media.
In 2017, the US military had already banned the use of DJI drones for security reasons.
Washington and Beijing have been engaged for 18 months in a trade war, in a context of technological rivalry between the two powers.
DJI, founded in 2006 in Shenzhen by a young model enthusiast, has no major competitor on the American side, after the withdrawal of California firm GoPro from this market.
The Chinese company, contacted by AFP, did not react to this announcement.
© 2019 AFP