US to add 33 Chinese companies and institutions to sanctions list
The United States said it is imposing sanctions on 33 Chinese companies and government institutions, nine for alleged human rights violations and the other 24 accused of ties to weapons of mass destruction (‘WMD’) and military activity.
The US Department of Commerce said that nine companies were being added to its Entity List for human rights violations in Xinjiang, the so-called ‘Autonomous Region’ in the northwest where Beijing is reported to have carried out a massive crackdown on the country’s minority Muslim population.
The listing by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (‘BIS’) will identify China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science and Aksu Huafu Textiles Co. as engaging in human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang, BIS said.
It added that an additional seven commercial entities will be sanctioned ‘for enabling China’s high-technology surveillance’ in Xinjiang. Those entities were named as: CloudWalk Technology, FiberHome Technologies Group, Nanjing FiberHome Starrysky Communication Development, NetPosa, SenseNets, Intellifusion and IS’Vision.
The other 24 governmental and commercial organisations being placed on a separate BIS Entity List are based in China, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. They ‘represent a significant risk of supporting procurement of items for military end-use in China,’ BIS said.
‘This action will prohibit the export, re-export, or in-country transfer of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (‘EAR’) to these entities without Department of Commerce authorization,’ BIS warned. ‘The EAR imposes additional license requirements on, and limits the availability of most license exceptions for, exports, re-exports, and transfers (in-country) to listed entities.’
