The BGI Group has denied allegations of human rights violations arising from the placement of two of its subsidiaries on a US economic blacklist, Reuters reports.
On Monday, the US Commerce Department added nearly a dozen Chinese companies to its list of entities it suspects of human rights violations directed at China's Uighur minority population. The new entries include Xinjiang Silk Road BGI and Beijing Liuhe BGI, which the Commerce Department noted were included "in connection with conducting genetic analyses used to further the repression of Uighur and other Muslim minorities" in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
In a statement, the BGI Group, the parent company of Xinjiang Silk Road BGI and Beijing Liuhe BGI denies those claims. "BGI Group does not engage in unethical practices and does not provide gene technology for the surveillance of Uighurs. BGI Group does not condone and would never be involved in any human-rights abuses," it says in a statement, according to Reuters.