China’s Ministry of Commerce warned on Sunday that it “will take necessary measures to safeguard China's legitimate rights and interests,” after the U.S. added 23 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over human rights violations. Beijing denies any abuses and said it “resolutely opposes” the expansion, which it calls a “serious breach of international economic and trade rules.” On Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce added a tranche of companies “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass detention, and high technology surveillance against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” It also added five Chinese companies that the U.S. claims directly support China’s military modernization programs related to “lasers and battle management systems.”
