(Oct 8): The Trump administration placed eight Chinese technology giants on a US blacklist on Monday, accusing them of being implicated in human rights violations against Muslim minorities in the country’s far-western region of Xinjiang.
The companies include two video surveillance companies -- Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co -- that by some accounts control as much as a third of the global market for video surveillance and have cameras all over the world. Also targeted were SenseTime Group -- the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup -- and fellow AI giant Megvii Technology, which is said to be aiming to raise up to US$1 billion ($1.38 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering. Backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, the pair are at the forefront of China’s ambition to dominate AI in coming years.
The move, which was announced after US markets closed, came on the same day negotiators from the US and China began working-level preparations for high-level talks due to begin Thursday in Washington. Entities on the list are prohibited from doing business with American companies without being granted a US government license, though some have maintained relationships with banned companies through international subsidiaries. Hikvision and Dahua were suspended from trading Tuesday but iFlytek Co, one of the eight singled out, slid as much as 3.1% in Shenzhen.
