The US on July 11 imposed sanctions on high-ranking Chinese officials for mistreatment of Uighur Muslims and thus violating human rights. The US Commerce Department on Monday blacklisted 11 Chinese companies for treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang by the government.
The companies added to the blacklist include Nanchang O-Film Tech, a supplier for Apple's iPhone, which hosted Apple chief executive Tim Cook in December 2017, according to O-Film's website. It is also a supplier to Amazon.com and Microsoft, according to an April congressional letter. Other companies in the list include KTK Group, which produces more than 2,000 products used to build high-speed trains, from electronics to seats; and Tanyuan Technology, which assembles high thermal conductive graphite reinforced aluminium composites.
Also on the blacklist is Hetian Haolin Hair Accessories, whose products the US Customs and Border Protection halted from May 1 onwards, citing use of forced labour. Senator Marco Rubio said the list also includes two subsidiaries of Beijing Genomics Institute, a genomics company with ties to the Chinese government. Rubio further said, the blacklist will ensure “that the US technology does not aid the Chinese Communist Party's crimes against humanity and egregious human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, including the forced collection of DNA”.
As per the department, these companies were using forced labour by Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups. They include numerous textile companies and two firms that are said to be conducting genetic analyses used to further the repression of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, a Reuters report read.
Blacklisted firms cannot buy components from US companies without the approval of the US government.
Relations between the US and China have been tense ever since both nations have been involved in a trade war in 2018. This escalated when the coronavirus pandemic broke out in December of 2019. President Trump, along with leaders of other western nations have accused China over a lack of transparency about the origins of the virus. Washington had been pushing for the US government to take a strong stance against China in this regard.
The passage of a security law on Hong Kong that undermines its special status has also embittered the attitude of US citizens against China, as per polls.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the move of blacklisting these companies. The two nations are also in a standoff over China’s military standoff with India and China’s attempt to claim an area in the South China Sea.
The US, earlier this month had deployed two warships to conduct military exercises to promote a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” China asked the US to stay out of the matter as it wasn’t a country directly involved in the disputes.
In May the Chinese foreign ministry said, the United States “overstretched the concept of national security, abused export control measures, violated the basic norms governing international relations, interfered in China's internal affairs”.
