Chinese scholars have criticised US-led sanctions over Xinjiang, saying their research showed the measures had resulted in long-term economic damage, including job losses.
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The findings, presented at an academic seminar in Hong Kong last month, offered one of the first aggregated assessments of the impacts of US sanctions imposed on Chinese companies over alleged human rights abuses in the far western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Beijing has denied those accusations and condemned the sanctions as “intending to create unemployment” in the region.
The sanctions, first imposed in 2019 during US President Donald Trump’s first term, have targeted a growing list of companies based in Xinjiang. That list continued to grow under the administration of former US president Joe Biden, especially after the US Uygur Forced Labour Protection Act came into effect in 2021.
Since then, a total of 144 Chinese companies exporting apparel, critical minerals, electronics, chemicals and steel have been added to the entity list, effectively barring them from entering the US market, according to data from the US Department of Homeland Security. The list of companies covers Chinese companies in Xinjiang and several other regions, including in export hubs along the eastern coastline.
The US Commerce Department sanctioned a dozen Chinese companies for alleged Xinjiang human rights abuses, such as using technology to help local government surveillance of Uygurs and other ethnic minority groups. The companies include leading tech and AI firms such as Hikvision, iFlyTek, and SenseTime. US companies cannot sell technologies or components to these firms without a special government licence.
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Tuersun Aibai, associate professor at Xinjiang University’s School of Journalism and Communication, told the seminar that the economic impact of the US-led sanctions on Chinese companies had become apparent in recent years and had caused local unemployment.