WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - The United States is

adding four Chinese companies to an export blacklist for seeking

to acquire AI chips for China's military, a U.S. official said

on Wednesday.

The companies are "involved with providing AI chips to

China's military modernization programs" and military

intelligence users, the Commerce Department's Kevin Kurland, an

export enforcement official, said at a U.S. Senate subcommittee

hearing on strengthening export control enforcement.

The companies are among 11 additions to the Commerce

Department Entity List posted by the government on Wednesday.

Suppliers need licenses, likely to be denied, to ship goods and

technology to companies on the list.

According to the posting on the Federal Register, four

Chinese entities were added for acquiring and attempting to

acquire U.S. items in support of China's military modernization

efforts. The posting did not detail the reason.

The companies are LINKZOL (Beijing) Technology Co, Xi'an

Like Innovative Information Technology Co, Beijing Anwise

Technology Co and SITONHOLY (Tianjin) Co.

China opposes the U.S. abusing the list and other export

control tools to "contain and suppress" Chinese companies,

foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news

briefing on Thursday.

It urged the U.S. to stop politicizing trade and technology

issues and would take the necessary steps to safeguard its

rights and interests, she added.

In the posting, the United States also restricted exports to

five companies that it said were helping produce and procure

drones for use by Russia in Ukraine and by Iran-backed Houthis

in Red Sea shipping attacks.

Russia has intensified its drone and missile strikes against

Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks, causing significant

damage and threatening a repeat of the blackouts experienced in

the first year after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The Commerce Department added China's Jiangxi Xintuo

Enterprise Co to the list for supporting Russia's military

through the procurement, development, and proliferation of

Russian drones, the posting said.

Another Chinese company, Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Co, was

added for being part of a network procuring aerospace

components, including drone applications, for an aircraft

company in Iran. Three Russian entities - Aerosila JSC SPE,

Delta-Aero LLC, and JSC ODK-Star - were added for being part of

that network.

"These components are used to develop and produce

Shahed-series UAVs which have been used by Iran to attack oil

tankers in the Middle East and by Russia in Ukraine," the

Federal Register notice said, referring to unmanned aerial

vehicles.

Chinese foreign ministry said normal economic cooperation

between China and Russia should not be disrupted or restricted.

"We always oppose the U.S.'s unilateral and illegal sanctions,"

Mao said.

Attacks on ships including oil tankers by Iranian-backed

Houthis have disrupted global shipping through the Red Sea.

Yemen's Houthis say they are retaliating against Israel's war

against Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

Companies are added to the U.S. Entity List when Washington

deems them a threat to U.S. national security or foreign policy.

Two UAE citations, Khalaj Trading LLC and Mahdi Khalaj

Amirhosseini, were added for apparently violating Iran sanctions

by exporting or trying to export items from the United States to

Iran through UAE, according to the posting.

The companies could not be reached for comment.

U.S.-Chinese military contacts resumed late last year but

tensions continue due to fundamental differences over Taiwan and

the South China Sea that remain dangerous potential flashpoints.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pumped billions into buying

and developing equipment as part of his modernizing efforts to

build a "world-class" military by 2050, with Beijing's outsized

defense budget growing at a faster pace than the economy for

some years.