File photo (Getty/Mainichi)

       WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- The commerce and treasury departments said Thursday they have blacklisted dozens of Chinese research institutes and companies to counter Beijing's misuse of U.S. technologies in activities linked to human rights violations and military modernization.

       The Academy of Military Medical Sciences and eleven of its research institutes were among the entities newly added to the Commerce Department's trade blacklist, while eight technology firms, including world-leading drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co., were placed on the Treasury Department's investment blacklist.

       China is choosing to use biotechnology to "pursue control over its people and its repression of members of ethnic and religious minority groups," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a press release, apparently referring to the Muslim Uyghurs in China's far-western Xinjiang region.

       "We cannot allow U.S. commodities, technologies, and software that support medical science and biotechnical innovation to be diverted toward uses contrary to U.S. national security," she added.

       According to the department, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and the research institutes "use biotechnology processes to support Chinese military end uses and end users, to include purported brain-control weaponry."

       A total of 25 Chinese entities, including the academy and its affiliates, were added to the Commerce Department's so-called Entity List for aiding "Beijing's efforts to develop and deploy biotechnology and other technologies for military applications and human rights abuses," it said.

       Placement on the Entity List means that U.S. firms are prohibited from selling goods to the designated companies without government approval.

       Meanwhile, the eight companies targeted by the Treasury Department were accused of supporting "the biometric surveillance and tracking of ethnic and religious minorities in China," particularly the Uyghurs.

       SZ DJI has provided drones to the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau that are used to surveil the Uyghurs, the department said.

       Under the action, U.S. persons will be prohibited from purchasing or selling certain publicly traded securities connected with these entities, it said.

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