US sanctions Chinese firms over alleged repression of Uighurs

The United States has slapped 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 firms are implicated in human rights violations and abuses carried out in China’s campaign of “repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance against the Uyghur people and members of other Muslim minority groups”, the US Commerce Department said on Tuesday in a posting 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 – belong to the Chinese surveillance camera manufacturer Hikvision, according to Hangzhou-based firm’s 2021 half-year report.

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 Uighurs and other ethnic minority Muslims have been interned in reeducation camps.

Yutian Haishi Meitian Electronic Technology Co was also added to the blacklist.

The restrictions mean the firms are prohibited from buying parts and components from US companies without US government permission.

Hikvision is already subject to US trade restrictions after being added to the entity list in 2019 over its alleged activities in Xinjiang.