China Sanctions US Research Firm Over Uyghur Claims of Human Rights Violations
Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, delivers a stern message today as China sanctions a US research firm and analysts critical of the country's policies in Xinjiang.
China has sanctioned a Los Angeles-based research firm, Kharon, and two of its analysts specializing in human rights, Edmund Xu and Nicole Morgret. Kharon is a Los Angeles-based research and data analytics firm specializing in providing intelligence on sanctions-related risk to major financial institutions, corporations, and government agencies.
The sanctioned company and analysts have extensively reported on other organizations’ claims of mass detention, forced labor, and cultural suppression targeting Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. Kharon's June 2022 paper by Morgret specifically linked China's industrialization drive in the region to a forced labor regime targeting Turkic peoples.
China has always vehemently denied such allegations, defending its actions as necessary measures to combat extremism and provide vocational training. It claims the large prison-like facilities that raised concerns were only meant to rid citizens of violent tendencies and teach them job skills.
The sanctions imposed by China include travel bans, asset freezes, and a prohibition on transactions with Kharon, Xu, and Morgret within China.
While the sanctions hardly reach the heights sufficient to escalate tensions between the two superpowers, they are problematic in light of the recent meeting between Xi and Biden in San Francisco in November 2023, where greater cooperation was a hallmark of the meeting, together with an understanding of human rights issues that would be addressed differently going forward.
But what the incident truly signifies is that, despite the rhetoric of the two leaders, Xi and Biden, in their November 2023 meeting, policies have not changed, nor are they likely to in the foreseeable future, and the relationship between China and the United States remains as complex as ever.
We can be certain that the human rights issues surrounding the Uyghurs and the Tibetans will continue to remain extremely sensitive issues for China’s foreign policy, and they will be highly defensive of any criticism by the West or research firms from the West that use them as bargaining chips for diplomatic strategies.