BEIJING - China said it was sanctioning a United States company and two human rights researchers over work related to Xinjiang, escalating a dispute between the nations over allegations of forced labour.
China was freezing any assets held in the nation by Kharon, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Dec 26, referring to a Los Angeles-based company that identifies sanctions and compliance risks for organisations.
Mr Edmund Xu, director of investigations at Kharon, and Ms Nicole Morgret were also barred from entering China and had any assets there frozen.
Mr Morgret was previously an analyst at the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies and now works for a congressional commission.
Chinese companies were also barred from working with Kharon, Mr Xu or Ms Morgret.
The moves are largely symbolic because Kharon and the two individuals are unlikely to have much business or property in China.
Earlier in December, the US sanctioned a pair of Chinese officials, saying they were linked to human rights abuses against minority groups including Uighurs in Xinjiang, a far western region of China.
Ms Mao indicated that China’s sanctions were a response to that move by the US.
Kharon said in a statement that it would “continue to provide research and data analytics that is objective, independent and based on reliable sources”.
Kharon has published articles about issues such as sportswear companies that it says are at risk of links to forced labour in Xinjiang through their suppliers.
The Centre for Advanced Defence Studies credits Ms Morgret with helping on a paper that said major US companies are exposed to suppliers that get gold from firms “that exhibit risk indicators of forced labour”.
Over the summer, the US expanded a ban on imports from the Xinjiang region by placing two more companies on its so-called entity list. Those were the first additions since an American law targeting forced labour in the area took effect in mid-2022.
The Uighur Forced Labour Prevention Act bars imported goods partly or wholly made in Xinjiang, unless companies can prove the products have no ties to forced labour.
China has long denied it uses forced labour. On Dec 26, Ms Mao said: “The US has once again concocted and spread false narratives related to Xinjiang.”
China has been accused of sending millions of minorities to re-education camps in Xinjiang to curb terrorism. Beijing has countered that the facilities provide vocational education, bringing prosperity to the region.
The nation has sanctioned American people and companies before over Xinjiang and other issues.
In 2021, Beijing sanctioned former US officials who were instrumental in shaping the Trump administration’s confrontational stance toward China. Beijing has also sanctioned US arms firms over sales to Taiwan.
The latest move comes as ties between China and the US improve following a meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping in November.
Those discussions led to cooperation on the fentanyl issue and to high-level military dialogue. BLOOMBERG
