Xiaomi: The unusual reason why the United States included it in its blacklist

Xiaomi was sanctioned in the last weeks of the Trump Administration, due to a reason that was known this Friday.

Xiaomi Corp was blacklisted by the United States, in part, because of an award given by the Chinese authorities to its founder, Lei Jun.

The reason was known this Friday, in a legal presentation of the Department of Defense of the United States.

Lei Jun received the Outstanding Builder of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics award, awarded in 2019 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is an award given to various personalities every five years.

Xiaomi had also presented an investment plan in 5G and Artificial Intelligence. All of that was enough for the Defense Department to include it on a list of companies that support the Chinese Army.

This investment plan amounted to approximately $ 7.7 billion. For the US authorities, 5G and Artificial Intelligence are "of key interest to the People's Republic of China, and a focus of the military-civil fusion strategy."

Xiaomi silently awaits the outcome of the lawsuit

The Chinese company sued the Department of Defense in the District Court in Washington DC. The answer, through the judicial presentation, was made public this week.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a spokesman for the Asian company declined to comment on the motive.

Currently, Xiaomi is the third largest smartphone seller in the world. It lags behind Apple and Samsung, according to International Data Corp.

In 2019, in addition to the founder of Xiaomi, he received the Ding Lei award (NetEase Inc.). So did Wang Gaofei (Weibo) and Wang Chuanfu (BYD Co.).