The United States has blacklisted 34 foreign entities, including 14 from China in connection to rights abuses in Xinjiang province, the US Commerce Department said on Friday.
"The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added 34 entities to the Entity List for their involvement in, or risk of becoming involved in, activities contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States," a statement from the department read.
Of these 34 entities, 14 are based in China and have enabled Beijing's campaign of repression, mass detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang, the statement said.
The US Commerce Department added another five entities directly supporting China's military modernization programs related to lasers and C4ISR programs to the Entity List.
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said that the US is firmly committed to taking strong, decisive action to target entities that are enabling human rights abuses in Xinjiang or that use US technology to fuel China's destabilizing military modernization efforts.
"We will continue to aggressively use export controls to hold governments, companies, and individuals accountable for attempting to access US-origin items for subversive activities in countries like China, Iran, and Russia that threaten US national security interests and are inconsistent with our values."
As part of this package, Commerce added eight entities for facilitating the export of US items to Iran in violation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).
Furthermore, the Commerce Department added another six entities for their involvement in the procurement of US-origin electronic components, likely in furtherance of Russian military programs.
( With inputs from ANI )
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