China demands US reverse decision to blacklist tech giants over ‘brutal suppression’ of Xinjiang Muslims as Hikvision and others bear brunt of action
- Surveillance and facial recognition firms targeted over their role in the region, where a million Muslims are reportedly detained
- Beijing declines to say whether it will retaliate as two sides prepare to resume trade talks
Beijing has demanded that the US revoke a decision to add 28 Chinese government and business entities to an export blacklist over their role in Xinjiang – but stopped short of saying whether it would retaliate.
Speaking days before high-level trade talks resume in Washington, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters to “stay tuned” when asked if China would act over the blacklisting of some of the country’s biggest producers of surveillance equipment and artificial intelligence start-ups.
He went on to accuse the US of having “sinister intentions” and said Washington should immediately correct its mistakes and stop interfering in China’s affairs.
“China will continue to take firm and forceful measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests,” he said.
The US Commerce Department said the entities had been targeted over the “brutal suppression” of Muslims in the region, where China has been accused of detaining more than a million ethnic Uygurs and other Muslims – the equivalent of around 10 per cent of the Uygur population.