China Sanctions US Company, 2 Researchers Over Reports on Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang

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Dec 28, 2023 - 04:16 Updated: Dec 27, 2023 - 18:21
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China Sanctions US Company, 2 Researchers Over Reports on Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang

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The sanctions were retaliation for an annual U.S. government report on human rights in Xinjiang.

China’s communist regime is imposing sanctions on a U.S. research firm and two individuals in response to Washington’s recent moves to pressure Beijing regarding human rights abuses against Uyghur and other Muslim minorities.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular briefing on Dec. 26 that the sanctions target Kharon, a San Francisco-based research and data company; Edmund Xu, a senior researcher who leads the Asia study program at Kharon; and Nicole Morgret, a policy analyst at the U.S.-China Economic And Security Review Commission, a U.S. congressional advisory body.

The measures block their travel to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau and freeze any assets within China owned by Kharon and the two researchers, Ms. Mao said. Chinese companies and citizens are barred from working with them, she added.

The spokeswoman described the move as a response to Kharon’s research work related to Xinjiang, the region in far-western China where the U.S. authorities, along with other Western governments, said genocide is taking place.

Kharon called Beijing’s sanctions “largely symbolic” and has little impact on its business and clients, given that the company has no presence in China.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Kharon said it noted the Chinese authorities had sanctioned other U.S. businesses, individuals, and organizations over the past several years.

“In service of our clients and all global businesses that seek to implement leading risk management programs, Kharon will continue to provide research and data analytics that is objective, independent, and based on reliable sources,” it said.

Ms. Morgret couldn't be reached for comment.

Ms. Morgret has published many reports revealing the regime’s rights abuses in Xinjiang. In a study released by the nonprofit Center for Advanced Defense Studies in July 2022, Ms. Morgret writes: “The Chinese government is undertaking a concerted drive to industrialize the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which has led an increasing number of corporations to establish manufacturing operations there. This centrally-controlled industrial policy is a key tool in the government’s efforts to forcibly assimilate Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples through the institution of a coerced labor regime.”
Beijing has long denied such accusations of abuses. At Tuesday’s briefing, Ms. Mao accused Washington of spreading “false stories on Xinjiang” and threatened to retaliate. “If the U.S. refuses to change course, China will not flinch and will respond in kind,” she said.
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'Countermeasure'

The ministry described Beijing’s move as a “countermeasure” to an annual U.S. government report on human rights in Xinjiang, which led to the recent sanctions against three Chinese entities and two officials.

The State Department didn’t immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

The two Chinese officials who were added to the U.S. sanctions list earlier this month are Hu Lianhe, the vice head of the Xinjiang Work Coordination Small Group of the Central Committee that has been instrumental in implementing Beijing’s Xinjiang policies, and Gao Qi, the deputy chief of the Yili region’s vice governor and former leader of the local public security bureau.

The United States also restricted imports from three Chinese companies: state-owned COFCO Sugar Holding, Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group, and Anhui Xinya New Materials, which the U.S. government said were working with local authorities to ”recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, or receive forced labor or Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or members of other persecuted groups” out of Xinjiang.

The sanctions unveiled on Dec. 8 were part of a coordinated action with the United Kingdom and Canada targeting 37 individuals in 13 countries to mark International Human Rights Day.

Numerous reports and research from recent years have indicated at least 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities are held in internment camps in Xinjiang, where they have been subjected to forced sterilization, torture, political indoctrination, and forced labor.

Eva Fu contributed to this report.

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