The Biden administration announced fresh sanctions on Thursday against multiple Chinese biotech and surveillance businesses, as well as government entities, for operations in Xinjiang province, the latest move against Beijing over Uighur Muslim human rights abuses.

China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences and its 11 research institutions that focus on harnessing biotechnology to serve the Chinese military are being targeted by the Commerce Department. Without a license, American companies will be unable to sell components to the entities.

"Biotechnology and medical innovation are scientific pursuits that can save lives. Unfortunately, the PRC (People's Republic of China) has chosen to employ these technologies in order to maintain control over its citizens and to suppress members of ethnic and religious minorities "Gina Raimondo, the Secretary of Commerce, said in a statement. ""We cannot allow American commodities, technology, and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be misdirected to applications that are detrimental to US national security," she stated.

According to a senior administration official, the Treasury Department is planning to impose fines on many Chinese firms. As part of a deliberate attempt to oppress Uighurs, the official explained that US intelligence has established that Beijing has put up a high-tech monitoring system across Xinjiang that uses biometric facial recognition and has collected DNA samples from all people, ages 12 to 65, in Xinjiang.

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