China Sanctions Kharon, US Government Commission Researcher

China sanctioned American compliance risk advisory firm Kharon, a Kharon researcher and a researcher at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in reaction to recent U.S. sanctions announced on Human Rights Day earlier this month (see 2312080026).

A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson said December's Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act report, released by the State Department, "spread false stories" about Xinjiang. China also said the sanctions on its officials and companies for "so-called human rights issues" represented "grave interference in China’s internal affairs."

The spokesperson said the U.S. is vilifying China and that it will take "countermeasures" against Kharon, "which has long collected Xinjiang-related sensitive information and provided so-called evidence for America’s illegal sanctions related to Xinjiang." China also sanctioned Edmund Xu, director of investigations of Kharon, and Nicole Morgret, a former researcher at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies who now works as a policy analyst for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally funded commission.

Morgret and Xu may not travel to China or Hong Kong. China also will "freeze the property of Kharon and the two persons in China, including their movable and immovable property, and prohibit organizations and individuals in China from transactions and cooperation with them," the ministry spokesperson said Dec. 26 at a regularly scheduled press conference in Beijing.

"We again urge the U.S. to stop smearing China, cancel the illegal unilateral sanctions on Chinese officials and companies, and stop implementing wrongful acts such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. If the U.S. refuses to change course, China will not flinch and will respond in kind," she said.

Kharon said it intends to continue to provide research and data analytics to help companies manage their risk. They said their work is "objective, independent, and based on reliable sources.”

"Kharon has no presence in China and as a result the action is largely symbolic and will not impact its operations or ability to service its clients," the firm said.