HIKVISION HOPES FOR FAIR TREATMENT BY U.S.
Shares in surveillance camera firm tumble after report says Washington may impose new sanctions over alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang
Chinese surveillance camera maker Hikvision said it hoped to be “treated fairly” by the United States after the Financial Times reported that Washington might impose fresh sanctions on the firm for its alleged involvement in human rights violations in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.
If the US adds the Hangzhoubased company to its specially designated nationals (SDN) list, which would bar it from dealing with American companies or citizens, it would deal a heavy blow to the global operations of Hikvision, which has been on the so-called US Entity List since October 2019.
Shares in Hikvision tumbled by the daily limit of 10 per cent in Shenzhen yesterday following the FT report, which cited identified sources as saying Washington had already begun briefing allies about the sanctions plan.
Neither the White House nor the US Department of the Treasury, which administers the SDN list, has confirmed or denied the report.
If the sanctions are imposed, it would mark an escalation of US punishment of Chinese tech firms as the SDN list includes much harsher measures than the Entity List, such as freezing of assets in the US and banning the targeted firms from conducting any financial transactions with American citizens or institutions.
In a statement yesterday, Hikvision said it was aware of the report but noted that it “remains to be verified”.
“We think any such sanctions should be based on credible evidence and due process, and look forward to being treated fairly and unbiasedly,” the firm said.
It added that it “has been and will continuously be strictly compliant with the applicable laws and regulations of the countries where we operate in”, and that it was committed to “technology for good like all other leading technology companies”.
The Chinese government and its state media outlets have remained largely quiet on the issue.
Jon Bateman, a fellow in the technology and international affairs programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said SDN sanctions on Hikvision could set a precedent for similar US action against facial recognition firms SenseTime and Megvii, which were previously cited for alleged involvement in human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
“There will be immediate calls from … members of Congress for the Biden administration to take similar action against other Chinese tech companies,” Bateman said.
“At this point, Chinese tech companies should be on notice that any sales to Xinjiang security forces, or any sourcing and manufacture of products in Xinjiang, place them at high risk of US restrictive actions.”
Last June, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning American entities from investing in Hikvision and other Chinese companies involved in surveillance technology.
Experts, including Bateman, also said that even if the harsher sanctions were imposed, they would not be enough to change China’s policy on Xinjiang.
“These sanctions, if released, have a zero per cent chance of forcing a capitulation from Beijing on human rights,” said Kendra Schaefer, a partner and head of tech policy research at Beijingbased consultancy Trivium China.