WASHINGTON: The United States said on Friday it would add 33 Chinese firms and institutions to an economic blacklist for helping Beijing spy on its minority Uighur population or because of ties to weapons of mass destruction and China's military.
Seven companies, including top tech firms, were sanctioned for"enabling China's high-technology surveillance" in Xinjiang. The Commerce Department also added 24 companies, government institutions and commercial organizations to the economic list for supporting procurement of items for use by the Chinese military.
Among the companies named is NetPosa , one of China's most famous AI companies, whose facial recognition subsidiary is linked to the surveillance of Muslims. It once harbored hopes of selling its technology in the United States. The company could not be reached for comment.Qihoo360, a major cybersecurity firm taken private and delisted from the Nasdaq in 2015, recently made headlines for claiming it had found evidence that CIA hacking tools were used to target the Chinese aviation sector.