China Sanctions US Company, 2 Researchers Over Reports on Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang

The sanctions were retaliation for an annual U.S. government report on human rights in Xinjiang.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning addresses a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on July 26, 2023. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

China’s communist regime is imposing sanctions on a U.S. research firm and two individuals in response to Washington’s recent moves to pressure Beijing regarding human rights abuses against Uyghur and other Muslim minorities.

The sanctions affect Kharon, a San Francisco-based research and data company; Edmund Xu, a senior researcher who leads the Asia study program at Kharon; and Nicole Morgret, a policy analyst at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a U.S. congressional advisory body, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular briefing on Dec. 26.