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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: 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.