US puts Hikvision, China security bureaus on economic blacklist

The US Commerce Department put 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies, including video surveillance company Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. Ltd. (002415.CN), on a US trade blacklist over Beijing’s treatment of Uighur Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities, Reuters reports.

Those added to the so-called “Entity List” include the Xinjiang Uighur Aurtonomous Region People’s Government Public Security Bureau, 19 subordinate government agencies and eight commercial firms, according to a Commerce Department filing on Monday.

The companies include Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. Ltd. (002236.CN), Iflytek Co. Ltd. (002230.CN), Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co. Ltd. (300188.CN), and Yixin Science and Technology Co. Ltd.

While US officials said the announcement was not tied to this week’s resumption of trade talks with China, the announcement sets the tone for a potentially more aggressive positioning by Washington in negotiations with Beijing to end a 15-month trade war between the world’s biggest economies.

The department filing said the “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”.

“The US government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

The list includes municipal and county public security bureaus and the Xinjiang Police College. In China, a public security bureau is a municipal office responsible for law enforcement, fire prevention, traffic control, immigration control and other matters affecting public security.

Being added to the “Entity List” bars companies or other entities from buying parts and components from US companies without US government approval.

The Commerce Department previously added Huawei Technologies Co. and more than 100 affiliates to the Entity List.