The US Commerce Department on Monday placed 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies - including video surveillance company Hikvision and seven other companies - on a US trade blacklist over Beijing's treatment of Uyghur Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities.
Megvii filed for an IPO this summer of at least US$500 million in Hong Kong, while SenseTime raised US$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. "The US Government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China," said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
The Commerce Department previously added Huawei Technologies Co and more than 100 affiliates to the Entity List. The Huawei listing hurt many of its US suppliers that depended on the world's largest telecommunications company for revenue and made it difficult for Huawei to sell new products. "Punishing Hikvision, despite these engagements, will deter global companies from communicating with the US government, hurt Hikvision's US businesses partners and negatively impact the US economy," the company added.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week at the Vatican that"when the state rules absolutely, it demands its citizens worship government, not God. That's why China has put more than one million Uyghur Muslims ... in internment camps and is why it throws Christian pastors in jail."