Chinese companies, including Hikvision, are blacklisted by U.S.

Record ID: 1435693

  • Title: Chinese companies, including Hikvision, are blacklisted by U.S.
  • Date: 8th October 2019
  • Summary: XU SEATED AND USING COMPUTER
  • Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 07:52
  • Keywords: Hikvision Blacklist China economy Xinjiang Uighurs surveillance tech
  • Location: BEIJING, DABANCHENG, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, TURPAN, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA/INTERNET
  • City: BEIJING, DABANCHENG, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, TURPAN, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA/INTERNET
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003B08IURR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Chinese video surveillance giant Hikvision said on Tuesday (October 8) it is assessing the potential impacts of being placed on a U.S. trade blacklist after it was one of 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies placed on the list over Beijing's treatment of Uighur Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.
    Those added to the so-called "Entity List" include the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region People's Government Public Security Bureau, 19 subordinate government agencies and eight commercial firms, according to a U.S. Commerce Department filing released on Monday (October 7).
    The companies include some of China's leading artificial intelligence firms such as SenseTime Group Ltd, and Megvii Technology Ltd, which is backed by Alibaba, as well as Hikvision, Zhejiang Dahua Technology, IFLYTEK Co, Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co, and Yixin Science and Technology Co.
    Megvii filed for an IPO this summer of at least $500 million in Hong Kong, while SenseTime raised $620 million in a second round of funding in just two months last year and is one of the world's most valuable unicorns in artificial intelligence. Hikvision, with a market value of about $42 billion, calls itself the world's largest video surveillance gear maker. Reuters reported in August Hikvision receives nearly 30% of its 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) in revenue from overseas.
    While U.S. officials said the announcement was not tied to this week's resumption of trade talks with China, the announcement sets the tone for a potentially more aggressive positioning by Washington in negotiations with Beijing to end an 15 month trade war between the world's biggest economies.
    The U.S. department filing said the "entities have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups."
    China faces growing condemnation from Western capitals and rights groups for setting up facilities that U.N. experts describe as mass detention centres holding more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims.
    (Production: Martin Pollard, Thomas Suen, Irene Wang)
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