The United States has blacklisted 28 more Chinese companies for what the Trump administration regards as their roles in human rights violations. The US government accused the affected Chinese companies of being used to repress predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, a situation America said they will not accept, the New York Times writes.
The affected organizations include top manufacturers of video surveillance gadgets, artificial intelligence start-ups, voice and facial recognition firms, data forensics companies, phone tracking, and nanotechnology organizations among others. These companies will not be allowed to purchase American components for their tech products, even though China relies on some of them to emerge as the foremost global technological country in the world.
Listed by name, some of these companies are –
- Hikvision
- Dahua Technology
- Megvii
- SenseTime
- Yitu Technologies
- iFlytek
- Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Company
- Yixin Science and Technology Company
The United States Department of Commerce said these companies and others engage “in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance.” Given that human rights groups across the world continue to condemn China for detaining almost one million ethnic Uighurs and other minority Muslims in concentration camps in Xinjiang, the blacklisted companies are blamed for assisting Beijing to repress minority groups.
“The U.S. government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China,” said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
While it is possible that blacklisting the companies and barring them from doing business with America will harm their businesses, the full extent of harm cannot be fully known. It is possible that the companies have stockpiled American chips and other key parts, or found alternative sources to obtain them – reducing any short-term impacts the US ban may have on them. In the longer term, it may limit their access or influence in the US and European markets if the ban is not lifted shortly.
Just some months ago, the US blacklisted Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment giant, in a trade war that continues to escalate between America and China. And in June, the US blacklisted five more Chinese organizations in furtherance of her resolve to protect American national security. Adding 28 more to the list is sure to set the Chinese economy back some notch.
