Ahead of the US-China trade talks, Beijing on Wednesday opposed to Washington that adding 28 Chinese organisations and companies to its blacklist over their alleged involvement in abuses against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang provinces.
“The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to (interference in Chinese affairs),” Xinhua news agency quoted a Ministry of Commerce spokesperson as saying.
The fresh measures by the US escalated tensions ahead of the resumption of Washington-Beijing trade dispute dialogue which is to take place on Thursday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US blocked a group of Chinese technology companies from buying US-made goods on the grounds of alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, escalating tensions in the US-China trade war just three days.
The list also includes companies that specialize in artificial intelligence, voice recognition and data as well as provincial and local security bureaus that have helped construct what amounts to a police state in Xinjiang
The commerce department said the organisations had been targeted for their involvement in human rights abuses against Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.
A spokesperson in the statement said that the allegations were pretexts to interfere in the internal affairs of China.
Earlier on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of carrying out a highly repressive campaign against Uighurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslim minorities in the autonomous region of Xinjiang.
According to reports from international human rights organisations, the Chinese government has confined around 2 million people mostly Uighurs in Xinjiang ‘re-education’ camps.