Xinjiang: China adds US risk intelligence firm Kharon and researchers to sanctions list over human rights ‘excuse’

Foreign ministry declares sanctions on Kharon, its research director Edmund Xu and think tank human rights analyst Nicole Morgret
It is a tit-for-tat response to US Treasury sanctions this month on Chinese entities over alleged human rights abuses

US-China relations

Kawala Xie

Published: 8:00pm, 26 Dec 2023

Why you can trust SCMP

Beijing has sanctioned US risk intelligence firm Kharon and two researchers in response to the latest Xinjiang-related sanctions by Washington, its foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.

The firm, which provides analysis on investment risks – including those regarding Xinjiang – has been sanctioned by the Chinese government in a tit-for-tat response to US Treasury sanctions earlier this month on Chinese entities over their links to alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The ministry said Edmund Xu, a research director at Kharon, and Nicole Morgret, a human rights analyst at the Washington-based Centre for Advanced Defence Studies, were also sanctioned. They will be banned from entering China and the assets of all three entities in the country will be frozen.

03:28

State-backed tourism booms in Xinjiang cities ringed by camps

The two authors have published several reports on the human rights situation and alleged forced labour in Xinjiang.

The ministry said it had lodged a firm protest to the United States over the December sanctions and warned that more countermeasures would follow if Washington did not lift the bans against Chinese entities.

“The United States [is] using the so-called human rights issue in Xinjiang as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions on Chinese officials and enterprises, seriously interfering in China’s internal affairs, seriously violating international law and the basic norms of international relations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

“We once again urge the United States to stop slandering and smearing China, lift illegal unilateral sanctions on Chinese officials and companies, and stop implementing the so-called Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act and other wrong bills.

“If the United States persists in its own way, China will definitely accompany it to the end.”

International campaign launched to support Ilham Tohti for Nobel Peace Prize

China’s countermeasures came as Washington added more Chinese entities into its sanction list under the act, legislation enacted in 2021 banning imports made by alleged forced labourers in Xinjiang.

The three Chinese companies targeted this month were Cofco Sugar, Jingweida Technology and Xinya New Materials, which were accused of recruiting and exploiting people of ethnic minority groups through their labour practices.

Some 30 Chinese entities are now on the sanction list under the UFLPA

Two Chinese officials were also targeted. They were Gao Qi, a former police chief in the Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture in northern Xinjiang, and Hu Lianhe, an official from the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department responsible for shaping ideology and ensuring social stability in the region.

03:47

‘Door to China-US relations will not be closed again’: Xi Jinping offers assurances to US businesses

US President Joe Biden expressed concerns over human rights in Xinjiang while meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco last month for talks aimed at stabilising relations between the two rival powers.

China has long denied allegations of forced labour and human rights abuses in Xinjiang, saying measures taken by Western countries in restricting trade with the region have disrupted international trade.