In the latest move in the US-Chinese trade war, the American government will bar investors from investing in companies associated with human rights violations in Xinjiang.
In the new move, the Biden administration will blacklist 8 Chinese companies, including the world largest drone maker, DJI. It is done so on their associations with Chinese governmental oppression over the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Accordingly, the US Treasury will place eight Chinese companies on the investment blacklist on Thursday. These companies will be labelled as “Chinese military-industrial complex companies.”
After this, American investors cannot invest in 60 Chinese companies in total.
This is also the latest set of measures by US president Joe Biden to punish the Chinese for their crimes against the minorities in this region.
The first on the list is SenseTime, the facial recognition software company. Because of this, they even postponed their planned IPO in Hong Kong. Next is its main rival Megvii. They also postponed their IPO, but in this case a year earlier.
A cloud computing operator, Dawning Information Industry, also a supercomputer manufacturer, is placed on the list. Others include CloudWalk Technology, Xiamen Meiya Pico, Yitu Technology, Leon Technology, and NetPosa Technologies.
These companies specialise either in face recognition, cloud computing, AI, security or surveillance. Except for DJI and Megvii, the rest of the companies are traded publicly and listed in Chinese exchanges.
They are already on another list called entity list. Accordingly, American companies are restricted in exporting the technology or products to China without a government license.
Even though they have not released any specific statements, the Chinese companies plead innocent, and the government denies their hand over the atrocities.
According to some reports, the Commerce Department is expected to include more than two dozen companies. The companies will also include ones specializing in biotechnology.
All of these sanctions are US reactions towards the Chinese oppression against their minorities in the region. It even went as far as the US government declaration of its diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Another big name in the entry list is Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, the largest Chinese chip manufacturer. Even though Trump might have placed it on the list, there are some loopholes which the companies exploit.
In another move, the US House of Representatives passed a bill unanimously on Tuesday, which banned import from the region. These products will only be allowed until and unless the companies prove that the products are not made through forced labour.
This act named, Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act, is welcomed by many activists and asks for ready enforcement of the act. If implemented the USA will be the first nation to do so.
These moves will place more pressure on the government who is already reeling from the effects of the energy crisis, Evergrande and the tech issues.
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