Chinese and US flags fly in front of a company building in Shanghai, China, 16 November 2021.
Aly song | Reuters
WASHINGTON – The Biden government said Thursday it has imposed trade restrictions on more than 30 Chinese research institutes and facilities for human rights abuses and the alleged development of technologies, such as brain control weapons, that undermine US national security.
The Ministry of Commerce accused the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences and eleven of its research institutes of using biotechnology “to support the end uses and end users of the Chinese military and to pick up alleged brain control weapons,” a statement in the federal register said.
The communication does not go into any further details of the alleged brain control weapons.
“The scientific pursuit of biotechnology and medical innovation can save lives. Unfortunately, the PRC is choosing to use these technologies to take control of its population and its repression from members of ethnic and religious minorities, “wrote US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in a statement referring to the People’s Republic of China and human rights abuses in China’s extreme western region of Xinjiang.
The Foreign Ministry had previously described the abuse of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, such as in the Xinjiang region, as “widespread, state-sponsored forced labor” and “mass detention.”
Earlier this month, the White House announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, citing “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”
Beijing denies abusing religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
The Commerce Department has added four other Chinese companies to its entity list because of their role in modernizing the Chinese military, which runs counter to US national security and foreign policy interests.
The department also added five other Chinese companies that reportedly “acquired or attempted to acquire technology from the United States to help modernize the People’s Liberation Army.”
US officials have long complained that intellectual property theft by China has cost the economy billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs. You also said that it threatens national security. Meanwhile, Beijing claims it is not involved in intellectual property theft.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The Department of Commerce also took action against companies in Georgia, Malaysia and Turkey for allegedly “diverting or attempting to divert US items for Iranian military programs.”
“In particular, these units are part of a network that is used to supply or attempt to supply Iran with items of US origin that would ultimately provide material support to the Iranian defense industry in violation of US export controls,” it says in the message.
In total, the Ministry of Commerce took action against 34 companies in China, three in Georgia, one in Malaysia and two in Turkey.
