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Flags of China and the United States flutter outside an American company’s building in Beijing, China, on January 21, 2021. Tingshu Wang/Tingshu Wang/Tingshu Wang/Tingshu Wang/Tingshu Reuters, WASHINGTON, July 9 – The Biden administration added 14 Chinese corporations and other entities to its economic blacklist on Friday, citing alleged human rights violations and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang as reasons. The companies were “involved in human rights violations and abuses in China’s campaign of repression, mass imprisonment, and high-tech surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” according to the Commerce Department. Beijing denies the allegations of human rights violations. The anticipated additions were initially reported by Reuters late Thursday. 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 Alliance Co., Ltd. are among the companies. The Commerce Department announced the addition of 34 firms, including several from Russia and Iran, as well as another five entities that will directly support China’s military upgrading efforts including lasers and combat management systems. In a statement, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “The Department of Commerce remains firmly committed to taking strong, decisive action to target entities that are enabling human rights abuses in Xinjiang or that use U.S. technology to fuel China’s destabilizing military modernization efforts.” The list also contains eight businesses for assisting the transfer of US goods to Iran and six entities for procurement of US-made electronic components, most likely in support of Russian military activities. The move comes after the department announced last month that it will add five more corporations and other Chinese organizations to the blacklist in response to allegations of forced labor in China’s far western region. China denies claims of genocide and forced labor in Xinjiang, claiming that its measures are required to combat separatists and religious extremists who plotted assaults and inflamed tensions between the predominantly Muslim ethnic Uyghurs and China’s largest ethnic group, the Han. On Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated, “The Chinese side will take all necessary steps to preserve the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms and rejects US attempts to intervene in China’s domestic affairs.” President Joe Biden’s new action suggests that he wants to put pressure on China over what he sees as escalating human rights abuses against the Uyghur community in Xinjiang. Entities placed on the economic blacklist must apply for licenses from the Commerce Department and are subjected to stringent examination when seeking approval to receive goods from US suppliers. The US government has previously targeted Chinese companies tied to allegations of high-tech surveillance activity in Xinjiang. The Trump administration included some of China’s leading artificial intelligence businesses to its economic blacklist in 2019 as a result of the country’s treatment of Muslim minorities. Under Trump’s administration, the Commerce Department targeted 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight firms, including Hikvision (002415.SZ), a video surveillance company, and SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology Ltd, both leaders in face recognition technology. David Shepardson and Humeyra Pamuk contributed reporting.
Gaerth Jones and Mark Potter edited the piece.
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