Biden
© AP Photo/Susan WalshFILE - President Joe Biden. Western officials are asking citizens to renounce creature comforts and general wellbeing in the name of sanctions
The Biden administration said Thursday it is imposing new sanctions on several Chinese biotech and surveillance companies and government entities for actions in Xinjiang province, the latest step against Beijing over human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims in the country's western region.

The Commerce Department is targeting China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutes that focus on using biotechnology to support the Chinese military.

The move will bar American companies from selling components to the 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 U.S. commodities, technologies, and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to U.S. national security,"

The Treasury Department is also set to issue penalties against several Chinese entities, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the soon-to-be-announced moves.

The official, explaining the Commerce Department actions, noted that U.S. intelligence has established that Beijing has set up a high tech surveillance system across Xinjiang that uses biometric facial recognition and has collected DNA samples from all residents, ages 12 to 65, in Xinjiang as part of a systematic effort to suppress Uyghurs.


Comment: Note that, as usual, no evidence is being to given to support these claims from US intel, apparently we're just supposed to believe them.


The department, in a rule detailing its decision, said a review by multiple federal agencies had determined that the Chinese academy and research institutes "use biotechnology processes to support Chinese military end uses and end users, to include purported brain-control weaponry."


Comment: A rather curious claim considering that mind control is an area that the CIA has been invested in for decades, and there's proof showing that they've been applying their insights against civilians at home and abroad, as well as militarily.


The Treasury Department last week also announced a ban on U.S. investment in the Chinese facial recognition company SenseTime over concerns that the technology was being used to oppress Uyghurs.

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." U.S. athletes will continue to compete but Biden will not send the usual contingent of dignitaries.


Comment: If the claims of "atrocities" were true, surely the Olympics would be boycotted by all involved? Rather tellingly, the UN chief and France's representatives are ignoring the boycott tantrum and have already confirmed their attendance.


The administration also said this week that it supported bipartisan legislation that bans imports into the U.S. from Xinjiang unless companies can demonstrate the goods were not produced by forced labor.


Comment: A number of US companies that manufacture their products in Xinjiang have investigated the claims only to find "neither of these audits revealed any indications of the use of forced labor":



China has denied any abuses and says the steps it has taken are necessary to combat terrorism and a separatist movement.