Trump administration blacklists Chinese firms linked to surveillance of Uighur minority
The Trump administration on Monday blacklisted eight Chinese companies whose products are used in the surveillance of Uighur Muslims in Western China.
The order bans U.S. companies from exporting high-tech equipment to the Chinese firms.
The Commerce Department also put 20 Chinese government agencies on its "entities list," including the People’s Government Public Security Bureau in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, 18 subordinate municipal and county public security bureaus and one other subordinate institute.
"Specifically, these entities have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the XUAR," the Commerce Department notice said.
The eight firms include Dahua Technology; Hikvision; IFLYTEK; Megvii Technology; Sense Time; Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co. Ltd.; Yitu Technologies; and Yixin Science and Technology Co. Ltd, according to a Commerce Department notice posted on the Federal Register website.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has placed more than 1 million Uighur Muslims in internment camps, according to the United Nations.
The move, which has been under consideration for months, may appease some Republicans who criticized President Donald Trump of appearing soft on the authoritarian actions of China.
It also comes as the United States is preparing to host Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Thursday and Friday for high-level trade talks aimed at unraveling tariffs the two sides have imposed on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other's goods over the past year.
In comments to the media, Trump indicated Monday that he didn’t want a partial deal with China but hinted that trade talks this week could result in something “very substantial.”
“I would much prefer a big deal and I think that’s what we’re shooting for,” Trump said during a White House event to formally sign a Japanese trade deal. “Can something happen? I guess, maybe, but it’s unlikely.”
Liu and other senior Chinese officials will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday and Friday for what will be the 13th round of talks.
“They want to make a deal,” Trump said of Beijing. The U.S. is set to escalate tariffs on roughly $250 billion worth of imports on Oct. 15.
Trump also again denied that he told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he would stay quiet on the unrest in Hong Kong during the ongoing trade talks with Beijing.
“I think if anything bad happened that would be a very bad thing for the negotiations,” he said, adding that he wants a “humane solution” to the unrest there.
