U.S. to add more Chinese firms to investment, export blacklists - FT
Shares in Chinese healthcare and
technology firms tumbled on Wednesday after a report that the United States
would add more Chinese firms, including the largest commercial drone maker and
biotech firms, to investment and export blacklists this week.
Citing two sources briefed on the
plans, the Financial Times said the United States would add eight Chinese
firms, including the drone maker, DJI Technology Co Ltd, to an investment
blacklist on Thursday.
The U.S. commerce department is also
set to place more than two dozen Chinese firms, some of them involved in
biotechnology, on an "entity list" restricting exports to them by
U.S. firms, the newspaper cited the sources as saying.
The report hastened a sell-off in
Chinese healthcare shares in afternoon trade, knocking 3.2% off a mainland
index tracking the sector (.CSI300HC) against a drop of 0.87% in the broader
index.
The impact was sharper still in Hong
Kong, where the Hang Seng Healthcare Index (.HSHCI) was down 7.6% in late
afternoon trade.
Healthcare firms were already under
pressure on Wednesday after Chinese biotech company BeiGene Ltd plunged on its
Shanghai debut, amid worries that some Chinese firms could be ordered to delist
from the U.S. stock market.
The Financial Times said the U.S.
treasury department would put eight companies including DJI on its
"Chinese military-industrial complex companies" blacklist because of
their alleged involvement in surveillance of the Uyghur Muslim minority.
U.S. investors are barred from
taking stakes in companies on the list, which now comprises about 60 firms.
A DJI spokesperson declined to
comment on the report, but directed Reuters to the company's statement when
U.S. commerce department put it it on the "Entity List" a year ago
for the same reasons. That step barred it from buying or using U.S. technology
or components.
At the time, DJI said it had done
nothing to justify the move and would continue to sell products in the United
States, where it has built up a large market.
The U.S. Treasury did not
immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
In Beijing, responding to questions
on the FT report, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing
China was opposed to U.S. "suppression" of its companies and would
pay close attention to how the situation developed.
The new additions come just days
after artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime Group was added to the
Treasury list, forcing it to postpone its $767-million Hong Kong initial public
offering (IPO).
SenseTime said the accusations
against it were unfounded.
U.N. experts and rights groups
estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim
minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in
China's far western region of Xinjiang.
Some foreign lawmakers and
parliaments have labelled the treatment of Uyghurs as genocide, citing evidence
of forced sterilisations and deaths inside the camps. China denies this, saying
Uyghur population growth exceeds the national average.
Other companies to be added to the
list, the FT said, are image-recognition software firm Megvii, supercomputer
maker Dawning Information Industry, facial recognition specialist CloudWalk
Technology, cyber security group Xiamen Meiya Pico, artificial intelligence
company Yitu Technology and cloud computing firms Leon Technology and NetPosa
Technologies.