China still buying American DNA equipment for Xinjiang despite blocks

BEIJING • Police in the Chinese region of Xinjiang are still buying hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of American DNA equipment despite warnings from the United States government that the sale of such technologies could be used to enable human rights abuses in the region.

The US has tried to prevent the sale of DNA sequencers, test kits and other products made by American firms to Xinjiang police for years, amid concerns raised by scientists and rights groups that the authorities could use the tools to build systems to track people.

In 2019, the Trump administration banned the sale of American goods to most law enforcement agencies in Xinjiang unless the companies received a licence. Last year, Washington warned companies selling biometric technology to Xinjiang to be aware of "reputational, economic and legal risks".

But Chinese government procurement documents and contracts reviewed by The New York Times show goods made by two American companies - Thermo Fisher and Promega - have continued to flow to the region, where residents, mostly Muslim Uighurs, have been incarcerated in internment camps. China has denied such allegations, saying they are vocational training centres.

The sales are taking place through Chinese firms that buy the products and resell them to Xinjiang police.

It is not clear how the Chinese firms acquired the equipment, and documents do not show either American company making direct sales to Chinese firms. Still, experts say Xinjiang police acquiring and using US-made DNA equipment raises questions about the companies' diligence regarding where their products end up.

In a statement, Thermo Fisher said it has a "multi-level purchasing process" designed to prevent sales and shipments of human identification products to the Xinjiang authorities.

NYTIMES