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Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) praised the Trump administration’s action to add 28 Chinese companies complicit in the Communist Party’s gross violation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region—including Hikvision, Dahua Technology, SenseTime, and Megvii Technology—to the Commerce Department’s Entity List on October 9, 2019. Earlier this year, Rubio led 24 Senators and 19 House Members in a bipartisan and bicameral letter to the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Commerce urging the Administration to add Hikvision, Dahua Technology, and other companies to the Entity List, and to implement other sanctions in response to Beijing’s egregious human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
 
“The Trump administration is sending a strong, clear message that the United States will hold the Chinese government and Communist Party and their enablers accountable for Beijing’s large-scale, systematic and egregious human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other religious ethnic minorities in Xinjiang,” Rubio said. “These Chinese companies, including Hikvision and Dahua Technology and SenseTime, pose national security dangers to the United States or are complicit in the Communist Party’s buildup of its Orwellian surveillance state and modern day concentration camps in Xinjiang.”
 
Highlights of Rubio’s Actions in Support of Uyghurs and Other Religious and Ethnic Minorities in Xinjiang:
 

• On May 6, 2019, during a speech at the Ronald Reagan Institute, Rubio urged the Trump administration hold China accountable for abuses against Uyghurs. 
• On April 3, 2019, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and colleagues urged strong sanctions, export controls and financial disclosures to counter Chinese human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
• On January 17, 2019, Rubio, Menendez and colleagues re-introduced legislation in response to China’s human rights abuses of Uyghurs.
• On November 14, 2018, Rubio, Menendez and colleagues introduced legislation in response to China’s human rights abuses of Uyghurs.
• On October 10, 2018, Rubio and U.S. Representative Chris Smith issued the Congressional-Executive Commission 2018 Annual Report addressing possible ‘crimes against humanity’.
• On October 10, 2018, Rubio and Smith wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed on how China grows more repressive.
• On September 12, 2018, Rubio and Chris Smith (R-NJ), urged Commerce Secretary to limit technology sales to Chinese entities targeting Uyghur Muslims.
• On September 7, 2018, Rubio discussed crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in China on NPR.
• On August 29, 2018, Rubio and colleagues urged the Trump administration to sanction human rights violators in China’s Xinjiang region.
• On August 23, 2018, Rubio discussed China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight.
• On August 10, 2018, Rubio wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed on China’s campaign against Uyghur Muslims and other minorities.
• On July 26, 2018, Rubio chairs Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing on Xinjiang’s human rights crisis.
• On May 15, 2018, Rubio and Smith asked Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross about sale of surveillance technology to Chinese police.
• On April 4, 2018, Rubio and Smith urged U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to prioritize mass detention of Uyghurs, including family members of Radio Free Asia employees.
• On January 8, 2018, Rubio and Smith raise alarm about deteriorating human rights situation in Xinjiang.