By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, July 16: The United States will impose visa restrictions on the employees of Chinese tech giant Huawei as well as other Chinese tech companies, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, in the latest travel restrictions and sanctions between the two countries.
“The US will impose visa restrictions on certain employees … of Chinese technology companies like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally,” Pompeo told reporters at a State Department press briefing.
In an interview with The Hill later on Wednesday, Pompeo added that the restriction may be extended to other Chinese tech companies as well. “Whether it’s TikTok or any of the other Chinese communications platforms, apps, infrastructure, this administration has taken seriously the requirement to protect the American people from having their information end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
“Companies impacted by today’s action include Huawei, an arm of the CCP’s surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China,” Pompeo said. “Certain Huawei employees provide material support to the CCP regime that commits human rights abuses,” he added.
The move comes a day after President Donald Trump signed legislation to impose sanctions on businesses and individuals that help China restrict Hong Kong’s autonomy. He also signed an executive order aimed at ending preferential treatment for Hong Kong. “Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China. No special privileges, no special economic treatment and no export of sensitive technologies,” he said.
One of US’s biggest allies, Britain on Tuesday said it is outlawing purchase of any new Huawei equipments by the end of 2020 and stripping existing gears in the by 2027.
