China Blasts as 'Fact-Distorting' US Blacklisting as Hikvision Opposes BIS Move

China said it “deplores and firmly opposes” Monday's action of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security adding 28 Chinese entities to its trade blacklist for alleged involvement in human rights violations of China’s Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang province. The human-rights allegations are “merely made-up pretexts” for U.S. interference in China’s “internal affairs,” said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Tuesday. The U.S. criticism “is nothing more than fact-distorting gibberish,” he said. The 28 entities include eight China-based technology and science companies, among them Hikvision, a major supplier of video surveillance products. Hikvision opposes the BIS decision as one that "will hamper efforts by global companies to improve human rights" worldwide, emailed a company spokesperson Tuesday. Hikvision "respects human rights," she said. It has been "engaging" with Trump administration officials over the past year "to clarify misunderstandings about the company and address their concerns," she said. The action is effective Wednesday when it's to be published in the Federal Register, and it involves license requirements.