Political tensions between US and China are heating up just ahead of the high-level trade negotiations on Thursday and Friday. US Commerce Depart expanded the trade blacklist of Chinese companies with involvements in China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The decision targets 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight companies. High profile technology companies include g video surveillance firm Hikvision, facial recognition technology leader SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology Ltd. Additionally, US has imposed visa restrictions on Chinese government and Communist Party officials allegedly responsible for the abuse of Uyghurs. But no detail on the list of officials was released.
In response to US actions, Chinese Embassy in Washington said the decisions “seriously violates the basic norms governing international relations, interferes in China’s internal affairs and undermines China’s interests. China deplores and firmly opposes that”. And, “Xinjiang does not have the so-called human rights issue claimed by the US. The accusations by the US side are merely made-up pretexts for its interference”.
