US Blacklists Over 20 More China Firms For Human Rights, Beijing Vows "Relentless Retaliation"

US Blacklists Over 20 More China Firms For Human Rights, Beijing Vows “Relentless Retaliation”

On Friday the Biden administration has rolled out with a new human rights-related blacklist of companies from China, Russia and Iran – including over twenty Chinese entities targeted over abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang province, adding to the prior June list. Over 30 international companies total are said to be newly blacklisted in the move.

Included among them are Shenzhen Cobber Information Technology, the Beijing-based academic institution China Academy of Electronics and Information Technology, and Leon technology, among others. China Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin vowed “all necessary steps” in retaliation to “protect the rights and interests of its companies” against US interference.

An op-ed in the prominent state-run English language Global Times further vowed “relentless retaliation” for the new Xinjiang and Hong Kong related blacklist, the Friday publication wrote.

“All sanctions against Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland will receive relentless retaliation. The US and Europe will suffer the same losses as China from the conflict. We advise them to restrain themselves,” it said.

Also interesting is this line, which appears to be the officials consensus in Beijing: “The Biden administration repeating the old path of the Trump administration means it will repeat the latter’s failure.” The op-ed added: “It will show that Biden’s team is as incompetent as his predecessor, with a lack of imagination in a stalemate.”

The U.S. will add at least 30 companies to its economic blacklist Friday, including 14 Chinese enterprises that are alleged to be involved in human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region https://t.co/cmrcxiOGcx

— Bloomberg Next China (@next_china) July 9, 2021

Last month five Chinese entities were targeted for “accepting or utilizing forced labor in the implementation of the People’s Republic of China’s campaign of repression against Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” – with this list now being greatly extended.

Generally, entity-listed companies are met with huge hurdles if they apply for licenses from the Commerce Department, facing extra scrutiny when seeking US suppliers, making doing business with American companies extraordinarily difficult if not impossible.

Below is the full Department of Commerce list of Chinese companies blacklisted Friday: