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.
