US adds 5 Chinese companies to export restrictions list over rights abuses

The United States has put five Chinese companies on its Entity List that restricts their ability to receive exports, over human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province. The US government has determined that the five Chinese entities have committed human rights violation against religious and ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region, including being engaged in a campaign of repression, forced labour and high-tech surveillance, Sputnik reported.

The five companies will have additional license requirements and limited availability of most license exceptions for exports, re-exports and transfers to them. The development annexes to a global string of similar bans recently imposed against Chinese companies. This latest action comes amid rising tension between the two countries over issues including human rights violations, trade and China’s military aggression. Back in April, the US had restricted trade with top Chinese supercomputing centers, as these capabilities can be used for the development of modern weapons and national security systems. “Commerce implements new export controls on China, adding 7 Chinese entities to the Entity List in response to their involvement with China’s military, its destabilizing military modernization efforts, and/or its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program,” US Department of Commerce had tweeted.