U.S.-China relations continue deteriorating in the latest move by Washington to sanction 33 companies and institutions, some of which are allegedly complicit in human rights violations.
The U.S. first issued a statement announcing its intention to add 24 governmental and commercial organizations on its «Entity List» for activities that threaten American national security or foreign policy interests including the «significant risk of supporting procurement of items for military end-use in China». The two dozen entities, which include Shanghai-listed software giant Qihoo 360 Technology, are based in China, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands.
«The new additions to the Entity List demonstrate our commitment to preventing the use of U.S. commodities and technologies in activities that undermine our interests,» said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in a statement issued by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
The sanctions will prohibit «export, re-export, or in-country transfer of items» subject to export regulations without authorization from the Department of Commerce.
Xinjiang
On the same day, the U.S. also issued another statement sanctioning another nine entities that are «complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups» in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
More than a million Muslim Uighurs have been detained in Xinjiang-based camps in recent years, according to United Nations estimates, though China has denied mistreatment adding that the camps provide vocational training.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill – the «Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020» – with the House scheduled to vote this week which, if passed, could result in attempts to close the camps alongside visa revocation and sanctions against officials found to be responsible for the oppression of Uighurs.
