USA: Chinese firms and entities added to sanction lists over human rights abuses
โUS sanctions Chinese entities over human rights violationsโ, 22 May 2020
The US Department of Commerceโฆ said it would sanction 33 Chinese firms and government institutions over human rights abuses against Uighurs and other minority groups in China's western Xinjiang regionโฆ
The US will penalize two entities, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security's Institute of Forensic Science and Aksu Huafu Textiles, for "engaging in human rights violations and abuses." Seven other companies will be sanctioned for enabling surveillance in Xinjiang, the Commerce Department said, adding that all will be subject to restrictions from exports from the US.
"These nine parties are complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region," the Commerce Department said in a statement.
Two dozen other companies, government institutions and commercial organizations were also added to the list for supporting the procurement of items for the Chinese military, the Commerce Department said in a second statement.
The newly-sanctioned companies specialize in artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologyโฆ