Sanction aside, this action is a wake-up call for all US based companies operating in geopolitically sensitive industries that they absolutely need to diversify their supply chain away from China.
And in terms of the sanction itself, it’s definitely a reasonable response by China, given the fact that DJI is heavily sanctioned by the US government.
The "sanctions" on DJI are limited to US federal agencies being banned from buying DJI drones.
China's move however will be a killing blow to Skydio because China has most likely correctly calculated that US/Western anti-mining sentiments makes it impossible to manufacture batteries.
On one hand, e.g. Tesla make their batteries on the US soil, in Nevada. OTOH they don't make the batteries from the US soil, with more than half of the lithium coming from China.
I'd expect a Tesla Gigamine then, somewhere near the recently discovered giant lithium deposit in Arkansas. Drones could use some of that, too.
DJI has extremely light sanctions. I can still buy them in the stores in the US. If they were heavily sanctioned by the government, this would not be possible.
...at the moment. The House has passed a bill that would ban the sale of most models of their drones. The bill is currently in committee in the Senate.
...Yeah? That is pretty much in line with how sanction works in the West.
US has sanctioned for decades companies that cooperate economically with "enemy states" (Iran/Cuba/Russia/China), I don't see how China would be different.
The Chinese civil war never officially ended. There was no agreement whatsoever, and the ROC never declared itself as separate, etc. Taiwan is simply a province within the ROC, and the ROC still consists of the mainland. That's what the ROC constitution states.
And in terms of the sanction itself, it’s definitely a reasonable response by China, given the fact that DJI is heavily sanctioned by the US government.