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U.S. Cracks Down on Firms Said to Aid China's Repression of Minorities
The Biden administration said on Thursday that it would put limits on doing business with a group of Chinese companies and institutions it says are involved in misusing biotechnology to surveil and repress Muslim minorities in China and advancing Beijing's military programs.
In announcing one set of the moves, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said China was employing biotechnology and medical innovation "to pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups."
The administration said those efforts included the use of biometric facial recognition and large-scale genetic testing of residents 12 to 65 in the mostly Muslim region of Xinjiang.
China has used such technology to track and control the Uyghurs, a predominately Muslim ethnic group.
[...] In its announcement on Thursday, the Biden administration said Beijing was using advances in biotechnology to drive forward its military modernization. A senior administration official called out China's work to edit human genes for performance enhancement and create ways for human brains to connect more directly to machines.
Also caught in the crosshairs is the drone company DJI, for providing drones used by the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau to surveil Uyghurs, Megvii, which makes artificial intelligence and facial recognition software, and Dawning Information Industry (also known as Sugon), a manufacturer of supercomputers and provider of cloud-computing services.
See also: Disney under fire for 'Mulan' credits that thank Chinese groups linked to detention camps
Previously: Massive DNA Collection Campaign in Xinjiang, China
Massive DNA Collection Campaign Continues in Xinjiang, China
China Installs Surveillance App on Smartphones of Visitors to Xinjiang Region
DNA Databases in the U.S. and China are Tools of Racial Oppression
The Panopticon is Already Here: China's Use of "Artificial Intelligence"
(Score: 5, Funny) by https on Friday December 17 2021, @05:13PM (13 children)
I guess a pot really would know what colour a kettle is.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @05:29PM (12 children)
Does the pot have an ongoing genocide like the kettle? No? K then.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday December 17 2021, @05:58PM (4 children)
Well it's gotten a bit better since the civil rights movement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @06:18PM (3 children)
Tell that to the Mexicans being bullwhipped at the border.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @06:39PM (1 child)
All invaders should be fire bombed or shot, after a friendly warning to go away, Mestizo and pure Mongoloid wetbacks included. Now the Jews and their race-traitor Shabbos Goy are bringing in murderous, retarded niggers from Haiti.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @09:54PM
Come on, there's a few more offensive terms you could've crammed in there. You didn't even say anything about Chinamen and faggots!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:36AM
Those aren't Mexicans.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @06:47PM
No, silly. We outsource that now. The Saudis and Israelis do great work!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @12:06AM (5 children)
Here's the thing. First world countries rose to dominance basically by being nasty and doing nasty things. Think subjugation of native people, slavery, wars, extinction of animals, wrecking the planet, etc. Nasty! But now third world countries can't get ahead in the same easy ways? China is just newly developed and still developing. Can't tell them, or any other country, the "right" way to develop because I don't think we actually took it. How do you solve this problem?
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Saturday December 18 2021, @03:28AM (4 children)
What does oppressing the Uyghurs have to do with development? To the contrary, not oppressing them would be development. The question is based on false premises. Sure, there are a few ugly economic things that need to happen between points A and B (such as low pay, sweat shops, etc), but most ugly things hinder not help.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @04:32AM (3 children)
Wrong. Slavery is what the south states used for economic development. Bombing sandy countries for oil ^H freedom is for economic development. Both are examples of oppression used for development reasons. It was/is the wrong path for us on the road to development and it's wrong for China but it's an easy path.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday December 18 2021, @05:51AM (2 children)
And they lost a big war as a result.
And I imagine the Uyghurs have resources to justify the level of oppression they're receiving?
In other words, it's the wrong path.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @09:00AM (1 child)
Certainly do.
They sell a lot of organs to rich Israelis. One doctor wrote an article about how shocked he was that his patients were being scheduled weeks in advance for heart transplants in China. You can't do that unless you kill the "donors" on demand, hearts only last a day or two.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday December 19 2021, @04:21PM
I was asking about resources important enough. Even if every rich Israeli got a new heart every year, you're not coming close. There just aren't that many of them. Even with the much larger Chinese market, that somehow you forgot about, you're still looking at best at a value add (from the oppressors point of view, not mine).
My take is that the real driver is ideology. Communism is out, but we still have most of the elements of fascism. And well, they don't like rival ideologies, like religion.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday December 17 2021, @05:56PM (2 children)
but really, whenever the US imposes sanctions - either with international consensus or without - Matthew 7:3 [wikipedia.org] comes to mind.
If the US wasn't the most powerful bully on the world stage, it would have been internationally sanctioned for a variety of things for decades by a lot of other countries.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @06:16PM
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @06:17PM
Also, I am Anonymous Coward, clearly the most powerful bully on the world stage.
Ph34r m3.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @07:11PM
Meanwhile in other news US drone manufacturers were severely sanctioned for providing drones to the US military that were used to kill thousands of civilians in weddings, funerals, etc. After all actually killing civilians is worse than monitoring them.
From News That Never Happened...
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday December 17 2021, @07:24PM
Um... yeah... sure... whatever... business is business
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 17 2021, @09:39PM (5 children)
My Senator loves to take credit for everybody else's work - this was the top item on his newsletter today:
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday December 17 2021, @10:11PM (4 children)
A prominent public figure that takes a public, unequivocal (for some definition of "slave labor") stand on a major foreign power's human rights issue, where that "credit" could easily come back to bite him in future foreign policy/soverignty discussions? That's pretty brave. Or pretty stupid. Or, in the rare case where one word works for both, foolhardy [youtu.be]. Good for him!
(Score: 4, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 17 2021, @10:23PM (3 children)
He is big on talk short on memory. Ollie North really was the future of American politics.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday December 18 2021, @10:36PM (2 children)
"What's the news in politics this week, Ollie?"
"Bad!"
"Thanks, Ollie! Next, in local sports..."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 19 2021, @05:38AM (1 child)
You must be new here.
The answer, the only answer is: "I'm sorry sir, I don't recall."
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Sunday December 19 2021, @06:48AM
Way to ruin the joke. [youtube.com]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @09:51PM (1 child)
Human rights violations, sure.
I'm sorry, you're cranky at them for spending on their military?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @10:06PM
Perhaps if the US and China would collaborate on defence spending there would be no need for wars, just sayin'.
Neo-crusades in the middle east aside but even the Republicans have moved on from the Bush era.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Captival on Saturday December 18 2021, @04:17AM (1 child)
China: "We're committing genocide and slavery."
Biden: "No problem."
China: "And we're using DJI drones to do it."
Biden: "Can't have that. You're in big trouble DJI."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 18 2021, @01:34PM
also can't have them drones monitor a guy called kellogi or sumthing entering a embassy ...