The United States has traditionally positioned itself as the role model for and champion of human rights around the world, speaking out for dissidents and minorities in Syria, China, Russia and Iran. Indeed, the American government has frequently employed restrictions or outright bans on the sale of arms and other equipment used as instruments of subjugation.
A recent example is the U.S. decision to sanction Chinese firms that produce and sell surveillance technology used to help Chinese officials screenand detain Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority. In August of this year, the U.S. banned federal entities from purchasing and installing video surveillance equipment produced by Hikvision, Dahua and Hytera Communications. The prohibition was included in the government’s 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Less than two months later, Hikvision and Dahua were placed on the government’s “Entity List,” a blacklist that prohibits U.S.-based companies from exporting their products to the listed businesses.
The Chinese treatment of the Uighurs deserves international condemnation with “teeth.” However, were the U.S. government’s motives really altruistic? It’s also a fact that the Donald Trump administration is locked in a bitter trade war with China, and many of the business interests that have his ear believe security systems in the United States are too reliant on Chinese surveillance products. (That over-reliance is also making it difficult to enforce the ban. A practice called “whitelabelling,” in which technology is repackaged and sold under another brand name by another company, is a common practice.)
