US sanctions Chinese biotech firms for working on 'brain-control weaponry', Uyghurs abuse

In a major jolt for China and its alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, the Biden administration has imposed new sanctions on Chinese firms. According to the Joe Biden administration, several Chinese biotech and surveillance companies and government entities purchase equipment from US-based firms and then use it against the minority communities in China. With the latest sanctions, the United States Commerce Department said it will bar US companies from selling equipment to the entities without a licence. The Commerce Department claimed the sanctions will affect China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutes that use advanced biotechnology to suppress minorities. According to the department, these research institutes supply equipment to the Chinese military.

"The scientific pursuit of biotechnology and medical innovation can save lives. Unfortunately, the PRC (People's Republic of China) is choosing to use these technologies to pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups," AP quoted the statement of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

"We cannot allow US commodities, technologies, and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to US national security,” added the statement.

China has set up a high tech surveillance system across the western region

Speaking to AP, a senior administration official told the news agency that the finance ministry is also preparing a blueprint to penalise several Chinese entities. According to the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the US secret services found China has set up a high tech surveillance system across the western region, Xinjiang, that uses biometric facial recognition. The intelligence agency has also discovered that Beijing has assembled DNA samples from all residents including, minors to the elderly. As per the findings, children from the age group of 12 are targeted by the Xi Jinping-led government.

"A review by multiple federal agencies determined that the Chinese academy and research institutes use biotechnology processes to support Chinese military end-uses and end-users, to include purported brain-control weaponry," the US Commerce Department said in a finding report. It is worth mentioning in July this year, the US Senate had passed legislation to ban the import of products from China's Xinjiang region as it assumed the goods produced in Xinjiang are made with forced labour. The Senate had noted that these Chinese firms played a major role in continuing the Beijing "genocide and crimes against humanity."

(With inputs from AP)

(Image: AP)