China says it'll take 'necessary measures' to back interests of Chinese companies

BEIJING: China said on Friday it would take necessary measures to uphold the rights and interests of Chinese companies, after the United States added Chinese supercomputing entities to an economic blacklist.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian was speaking at a regular news briefing.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday it was adding seven Chinese supercomputing entities to a U.S. economic blacklist for assisting Chinese military efforts.

The seven centers or entities were put on the US government's entity list, which means they require special permission for exports and imports from the US.

"Supercomputing capabilities are vital for the development of many -- perhaps almost all -- modern weapons and national security systems, such as nuclear weapons and hypersonic weapons," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.