It’s 2021 and for whatever reason, some ideologies in some parts of the world are still in the stone age. And as advanced as China is in terms of technology and renewable energy, the country’s politics, and human rights freedom are still based on ancient times.
And the US government is sanctioning the Chinese government in its dealings with ethnic minorities, the Uygur Muslims.
The Biden administration on Thursday has announced that it will be imposing sanctions on several Chinese biotech and surveillance companies as well as government entities for actions in Xianjing province.
This province is where Uygur Muslims are mostly based and the fact that the Chinese government tries all its possibilities to enslave these minorities has caught international attention several times with many calling for Beijing to treat everyone equally.
The most recent news has it that the US Commerce Department is singling out 11 research institutes that focus on using biotechnology to support the Chinese military as well as China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
The move will bar American companies from selling components to entities without a license.
“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,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement.
“We cannot allow US commodities, technologies, and software that support medical science and bio-technical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to US national security.”
There will also be penalties in place by the Treasury Department against several Chinese entities – according to a senior administration official who spoke on a condition of anonymity to discuss the move that’s set to be announced.
It’s no news that China is the surveillance headquarter of the world with the government interested in every single thing the citizens do.
But as far as Xinjiang is concerned, multiply the number by a million, that’s exactly how interested Beijing is in the daily lives of the Uygurs.
The usage of high-tech surveillance systems across the province as well as the use of biometric facial recognition systems and collection of DNA samples from all residents between the age of 12 and 65 are part of a systematic effort to suppress the Uygur Muslims.
The White House announced last week it would stage a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, citing China’s “egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang”.
Even though US athletes will continue to compete at the event, the US government will not send the usual contingent of dignitaries according to the report.
The administration also said this week that it supported bipartisan legislation that bans imports into the US from Xinjiang unless companies can demonstrate the goods were not produced by forced labor.
Even though China continues to deny any abuse of its ethnic minorities, there have been sights of concentration camps – that the Chinese government likes to call re-orientation camps for Uygur Muslims to get rid of bad thoughts from their minds before they act upon it.
It’s as if the Chinese government is an expert in reading minds. Just that it’s only reading the minds of the Uygurs and not the minds of the Hans.