The Commerce Department says the companies are involved in Beijing’s “campaign of repression” against ethnic minority Muslims.
The United States has imposed new sanctions on several Chinese companies for their alleged role in the persecution of ethnic minority Muslims in China’s far western Xinjiang region.
The companies are implicated in human rights violations and abuses carried out as part of China’s campaign of “repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-tech surveillance against the Uyghur people and members of other Muslim minority groups” , the US Department of Commerce said in a message on Tuesday. in the federal register.
Four of the companies – Luopu Haishi Dingxin Electronic Technology Co, Moyu Haishi Electronic Technology Co, Pishan Haishi Yong’an Electronic Technology Co and Urumqi Haishi Xin’an Electronic Technology Co – are owned by Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision, according to the Beijing-based company. Hangzhou. 2021 semi-annual report of the firm.
Hikvision did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously denied being complicit in human rights abuses in Xinjiang, where activists have estimated up to 3 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities were interned in re-education camps.
Yutian Haishi Meitian Electronic Technology Co was also added to the blacklist.
The restrictions mean that companies are prohibited from purchasing parts and components from US companies without US government authorization.
Hikvision is already subject to US trade restrictions after being added to the Entity List in 2019 for its alleged activities in Xinjiang.
