The Biden administration announced fresh penalties against numerous Chinese biotech and surveillance businesses on Thursday for their operations in Xinjiang province, the latest move against Beijing for Uyghur Muslim human rights violations in the country’s western region. China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutions that specialise on harnessing biotechnology to serve the Chinese military are being targeted by the Commerce Department. According to a senior administration source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the soon-to-be-announced steps, the Treasury Department is also planning to impose penalties on certain Chinese firms.
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Last Monday, the White House declared a diplomatic boycott of China’s forthcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, alleging “egregious human rights violations and crimes in Xinjiang.” Athletes from the United States will compete, but Biden will not send the normal delegation of dignitaries. The administration also stated this week that it supports bipartisan legislation that would prohibit imports from Xinjiang into the United States unless firms can show that the commodities were not made using forced labour. China has denied any human rights violations, claiming that the measures it has taken are required to combat terrorism and a separatist movement.
In federal indictments filed in 2018, his company was accused of generating $280 million worth of anabolic steroids over the course of five years, as well as shipping components for the painkiller fentanyl through tiny shipments delivered all over the world. According to prosecutors in Dallas, US officials confiscated the equivalent of $2.3 million in bitcoin linked back to Chuen last month. Two illicit drug gangs in Mexico and one in Brazil were also sanctioned by the Treasury Department.
Painkiller addiction has risen in recent years as a result of a profusion of phoney medications that can be purchased online, frequently smuggled in from elsewhere. While Mexican drug traffickers were progressively making pills that were smuggled into the US, the major source of fentanyl material delivered to Mexico was China, according to a 2020 study by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
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According to the research, India, which is known for its massive pharmaceutical sector, has swiftly become a supplier of illegal medications. “I believe it’s really simple,” a Biden administration official said of Wednesday’s moves, “that a lot of the precursors to synthetic opioids originate in China.” “It was also critical for us to convey a message on that front.” In April 2019, China issued a fentanyl prohibition in response to US pressure. According to a paper released last year by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, Chinese manufacturers rapidly moved on to selling the precursors of fentanyl, which are not illegal and frequently have legitimate use.
