US adding 33 Chinese companies, institutions to economic blacklist

Companies and institutions were sanctioned for being "complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs" and others, the Commerce Department said in a statement.

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.

The U.S. Commerce Department's move marked the Trump administration's latest efforts to crack down on companies whose goods may support the Chinese military and to punish Beijing for its treatment of Muslim minorities. It came as Communist Party rulers in Beijing on Friday unveiled details of a plan to impose national security laws on Hong Kong.