The US Department of Commerce economically blacklisted 11 more Chinese companies on Monday due to involvement in human rights abuses perpetrated against Uighur Muslims. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross cited China’s “campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor, involuntary collection of biometric data, and genetic analyses targeted at Muslim minority groups from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR),” as the reason for the sanctions.
Ross claimed nine of the companies listed participate in a forced labor regime involving Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups. Ross asserted the other two companies included conducted genetic analyses used to further the repression of Uighurs and Muslim Minority groups.
