BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - 28 Chinese organizations that are accused of violating human rights and committing abuses, targeting Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region have been blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The Bureau of Industry and Security of the Commerce Department announced that the Chinese firms, which include governmental and commercial, were added to the Entity List for engaging in or enabling activities contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States.
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross made it clear that the U.S. Government and Department of Commerce will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities in China. 'This action will ensure that our technologies, fostered in an environment of individual liberty and free enterprise, are not used to repress defenseless minority populations,' he said in a statement.
The firms targeted by the Commerce Department include the XUAR People's Government Public Security Bureau, 19 subordinate elements, and eight commercial entities. All these firms were implicated in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance, according to the U.S. Government.
Artificial intelligence companies Megvii Technology and SenseTime, and video surveillance company Hikvision were among them, AFP reported citing an upcoming update to the U.S. Federal Register, which will be published Wednesday.
These companies are banned from exporting items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to the United States.
The EAR imposes additional license requirements on these firms, and limits the availability of most license exceptions for exports. They also cannot purchase any U.S. products.
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