Inexperienced-Painted Trojan: Anzu’s DJI Connection – Uplaza

We write to raised perceive Anzu Robotics’ relationships with Folks’s Republic of China (PRC) Unmanned Aerial Car (UAV) producer SZ DJI Expertise Co., Ltd. (DJI), an organization on the Commerce Division’s Entity Listi that holds roughly 80% of the worldwide drone market share.

As described intimately under, safety researchers have confirmed that Anzu’s Raptor T is basically a DJI Mavic 3 painted inexperienced, with its distant management and software all operating on DJI know-how. DJI’s partnership with Anzu got here to gentle shortly after a congressional committee unanimously voted out laws that might add DJI (or any subsidiary or affiliate thereof) to the Federal Communications Fee’s (FCC’s) Lined Checklist, leading to new fashions of DJI drones being prohibited from working on U.S. communications infrastructure.

Primarily based partially by yourself statements, it seems that DJI is utilizing Anzu as a passthrough firm in an try and keep away from present and anticipated U.S. restrictions on DJI merchandise.

Past state motion and anticipated federal laws, these restrictions would additionally embody restraints that the Commerce Division, the Division of Protection (DOD) underneath Part 1260H of the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act for Fiscal Yr 2021, and different Government Department departments and companies have already positioned on DJI merchandise.

DJI maintains shut ties to the PRC authorities, although DJI lengthy sought to obscure this reality. On its official weblog, DJI has alleged that it “did not receive any Chinese government investments.”

Nonetheless, opposite to DJI’s false statements, an IPVM/Washington Put up investigation revealed that “at least four PRC government entities have invested in DJI,” together with:

• China Chengtong Holdings Group, “a 100% subsidiary of SASAC, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the PRC government entity which administers the country’s vast State-Owned Enterprise sector.” China Chengtong states that “military-civilian integration” is a core “goal” of the corporate.
• Shanghai Enterprise Capital Steering Fund, “which is administered under the Shanghai Municipal Government” and mixes “state assets with private funds to advance Beijing’s industrial development goals in emerging industries.”
• Guangdong Hengjian Funding Holding, a state-run PRC fund that has invested in and
  with sanctioned corporations together with SenseTime, which was added to the Biden
  Administration’s sanctions record for human rights violations in Xinjiang.viii
• SDIC Unity Capital, “a state-owned investment holding company approved by China’s
  State Council.”ix
  DJI has additionally expressed allegiance to Chinese language Communist Occasion (CCP) Basic Secretary
  Xi Jinping’s authoritarian practices. For instance, Chinese language web sites present China Chengtong’s
  deputy get together secretary visiting a DJI facility to “conduct special research” on its funding.x
  China Chengtong’s web site states that its objectives are “to mainly serve the innovation and
  development of central enterprises … and increase capital support for major national strategies
  such as the Belt and Road project and military-civilian fusion.”xi An article reporting on the
  deputy get together secretary’s go to to the DJI facility confirmed that “DJI adheres to the guidance of
  Xi Jinping Thought.”xii Xi Jinping Thought consists of “ensuring party leadership over all work”
  and “upholding absolute [Chinese Communist] Party leadership over the people’s forces.”xiii
  The U.S. authorities has repeatedly discovered that DJI poses nationwide safety and
  cybersecurity dangers. For instance, DOD discovered that “systems produced by [DJI] pose potential
  threats to national security”
  xviii
  xiv and designated DJI as a Chinese language Navy Firm;xv the Treasury
  Division prohibited U.S. traders from investing in DJI on human rights grounds after
  figuring out that “DJI has provided drones to the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, which are
  used to surveil Uyghurs in Xinjiang;”xvi and the Commerce Division added DJI to its Entity
  Checklist (banning U.S.-based corporations from exporting know-how to the corporate).
  xvii DOD
  suspended procurement of off-the-shelf DJI drones and the Division of the Inside has
  grounded all DJI and PRC-manufactured drones that it bought.
  However such designations, your organization seems to presently promote DJI’s Mavic
  3 drone painted in inexperienced because the “Anzu Raptor T.” Primarily based on a overview of the obtainable
  documentation, Anzu didn’t disclose its relationship with DJI in its filings with the FCC, even
  whereas the Anzu drone was discovered to incorporate DJI components.xix
  As a substitute, your organization solely revealed its partnership with DJI after safety researchers
  publicized the truth that Anzu’s Raptor T was the truth is a repainted DJI Mavic 3.xx After the safety group confirmed these information, each Anzu and DJI divulged their partnership, with a
  DJI spokesperson acknowledging that “DJI has a enterprise partnership with Anzu Robotics [that]
  was established with the aim of enhancing the accessibility of succesful and cost-effective drone
  available in the market.