On December 16, 2021, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 8 Chinese technology companies for actively supporting the biometric surveillance and tracking of ethnic and religious minorities in China, and, in particular, the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. OFAC designated the entities pursuant to EO 13959, as amended by EO 14032, that prohibits US persons from purchasing or selling certain publicly traded securities linked with the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex companies. As a result of these designations, US persons are prohibited from purchasing or selling publicly traded securities associated with listed entities, or any derivative of such securities, or any publicly traded security designed to provide investment exposure to such securities.
The 8 entities designated by OFAC were also added to the US Commerce Department’s Entity List as part of a group of 37 new foreign entities added to the list by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for engaging in activities that are contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.