China condemns US sanctions, warns response
China warns US over human rights-related sanctions on Chinese individuals and entities, including artificial intelligence company SenseTime.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin denounced US sanctions against China as being in 'severe violation' of international relations.
China has warned the United States that it would “strike back resolutely” if the US acts recklessly, urging the removal of extensive sanctions imposed by Washington.
China's comments came in response to sweeping US human-rights related sanctions imposed on Friday, targeting people and entities tied to human rights abuses committed by Beijing.
China's embassy in Washington denounced the US move as "serious interference in China's internal affairs" and a "severe violation of basic norms governing international relations".
Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said the sanctions would do "grave harm to China-US relations" and urged Washington to rescind the decision.
The Treasury on Friday added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime to a list of "Chinese military-industrial complex companies", accusing it of having developed facial recognition programmes that can determine a target's ethnicity, with a particular focus on identifying ethnic Uighur.
SenseTime said in a statement on Saturday that it "strongly opposed the designation and accusations that have been made in connection with it," calling the accusations "unfounded".
READ MORE: US hits Chinese, North Korean firms with fresh sanctions, visa bans
Summit for Democracy
The measures are the latest in a raft of sanctions timed to coincide with Biden's two-day virtual Summit for Democracy, where he announced initiatives to bolster democracy around the world and support for pro-democracy legislation in the US.
Biden said on Friday that commitments made by some of the more than 100 world leaders at the summit would push back against rising autocracy around the world, fight corruption and promote human rights.
"This is going to help seed fertile ground for democracy to bloom around the world," he said in a speech closing the summit.
UN experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uighurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China's far-west region of Xinjiang.
China denies abuses in Xinjiang, but the US government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.
READ MORE: Rights group calls on UN to probe China for crimes against humanity
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