US-China tech war: surveillance camera maker Hikvision hopes for ‘fair’ treatment as US reportedly weighs harsh sanctions
- Adding Chinese tech firms to the SDN list would mark an escalation by Washington, as it would include harsher measures such as freezing of US assets
- In a statement, Hikvision said any new sanctions should be ‘based on credible evidence and due process,’ and that it hopes to be treated ‘fairly and unbiasedly’
Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision said it hopes to be “treated fairly” by the US after the Financial Times reported that Washington may impose fresh sanctions on the firm for its alleged involvement in human rights violations in China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.
The company’s shares tumbled by the daily limit of 10 per cent in Shenzhen on Thursday following the FT report, which cited identified sources as saying that Washington has already begun briefing allies about the sanction plan. Neither the White House or the US Treasury Department, which administers the SDN, has confirmed or denied the report.
If the sanctions are imposed, it would mark an escalation of US punishment of Chinese tech firms as SDN includes much harsher measures than the Entity List, including freezing of assets in the US and banning the targeted firms from conducting any financial transactions with American citizens or institutions.
In a statement on Thursday, Hikvision said it was aware of the report but noted that it “remains to be verified”.
“We think any such sanction should be based on credible evidence and due process, and look forward to being treated fairly and unbiasedly,” Hikvision said.
The company added that it “has been and will continuously be strictly compliant with the applicable laws and regulations of the countries where we operate”, and that it was committed to “technology for good like all other leading technology companies”.