The Biden administration on Friday added 14 Chinese companies and different elements to its economic blacklist over supposed denials of basic freedoms and high tech reconnaissance in Xinjiang.
The Commerce Department said the companies had been “ensnared in common liberties infringement and maltreatments in the execution of China’s mission of restraint, mass detainment, and high tech surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and different individuals from Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region.”
Beijing denies the supposed maltreatments.
They include the China Academy of Electronics and Information Technology; Xinjiang Lianhai Chuangzhi Information Technology Co; Shenzhen Cobber Information Technology Co; Xinjiang Sailing Information Technology; Beijing Geling Shentong Information technology; Shenzhen Hua’antai Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.; and Chengdu Xiwu Security System Allinace Co., Ltd.
The Commerce Department said in total it was adding 34 companies including some from Russia and Iran, and another five companies directly supporting China’s tactical modernization programs identified with lasers and battle management systems.
“The Department of Commerce remains solidly dedicated to taking definitive activity to target elements that are empowering denials of basic liberties in Xinjiang or that utilizes U.S. technology to fuel China’s destabilizing military modernization endeavors,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
The rundown likewise includes eight entities for working to facilitate U.S. exports to Iran and six entities for inclusion in the acquisition of U.S. – origin electronic equipments, likely in facilitation of Russian military projects.
The activity follows the department’s decision last month to add five different companies and other Chinese entities to the boycott over claims of forced labor in the far western region of China.
China dismisses allegations of annihilation and forced labor in Xinjiang and says its policies are important to get rid of separatists and strict fanatics who plotted assaults and worked up strain between Muslim ethnic Uyghurs and Han, China’s biggest ethnic group.
“The Chinese side will take all important means to defend the authentic rights and interests of Chinese companies and rejects U.S. endeavors to meddle in China’s internal undertakings,” said foreign service representative Wang Wenbin on Friday.
The most recent activity shows President Joe Biden expects to squeeze China over what the organization says are deteriorating denials of basic liberties against the Uyghur populace in Xinjiang.
By and large, elements added to the economic boycott are expected to apply for licenses from the Commerce Department and face intense investigation when they look for consent to get things from U.S. suppliers.
This isn’t the first time the U.S. government has designated Chinese firms connected to claims of high tech surveillance in Xinjiang.
In 2019, the Trump administration added some of China’s top artificial intelligence start ups to its economic boycott over its treatment of Muslim minorities.
The Commerce Department under Trump designated 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight companies including video surveillance firm Hikvision, as well as leaders in facial recognition technology SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Innovation Ltd.
