Beijing (AFP)
CCTV, facial recognition or cookies: The United States on Monday blacklisted technological Chinese companies accused of participating in alleged violations of human rights. But who are they exactly?
These companies are among the most advanced in the ambitious campaign of China to become the equal of America in new technologies.
But they are suspected by Washington of serving police surveillance in Xinjiang (north-west), a vast region long hit by bombings and which has been the subject of a severe recovery in recent years by Beijing.
These eight companies are part of 28 "entities" added on Monday to a list of firms to which US companies can not sell components without the explicit agreement of Washington.
- Hikvision -
Hikvision, one of the world's largest suppliers of surveillance equipment, is one of China's leading technology companies benefiting the most from enhanced security measures in Xinjiang.
In 2017, it won at least five security-related contracts in the region, for 1.85 billion yuan (236 million euros). Among them, an agreement on a "system of prevention and social control" involving tens of thousands of cameras.
Hikvision is also present internationally: 30% of its 2018 turnover came from abroad.
Hikvision on Wednesday downplayed the impact of the decision in a conference call with investors and the media, saying it lacked a "factual basis."
"At present, the majority of US components can all be directly replaced, including new models," said Huang Fanghong, secretary of the board. "And if it's necessary, we'll design our own chips."
- Megvii -
Supported financially by the Chinese online trading giant Alibaba, Megvii is specialized in facial recognition.
Its technologies are used in a large number of sectors in China, from mobile payment to the identification of people wanted by the police.
Washington's decision "reflects a misunderstanding," says Megvii, saying that in 2018 his contracts in Xinjiang accounted for only 1% of his turnover.
Megvii was pinned in April by the New York Times for allegedly developing some of the software to file Uighurs, according to the American daily.
Media also claim that Megvii's shareholder is the BHR Partners fund, which is owned by Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, former vice president of the United States and current US presidential candidate.
- SenseTime -
This artificial intelligence company develops face recognition and image applications, including crowd monitoring and identity verification.
SenseTime counts for illustrious shareholders the Japanese conglomerate Softbank, the Chinese giant of the Alibaba online trade or the American chips manufacturer Qualcomm.
The company has a research laboratory in Silicon Valley and works in partnership with universities around the world on artificial intelligence research, including the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
- Dahua -
A leading provider of video surveillance equipment, Dahua Technology is increasingly present abroad with projects in Brazil, Italy and other countries.
According to its 2018 financial report, approximately 36% of the company's revenues came from abroad.
In August, Dahua was formally banned by the United States from trading with companies in the country because of risks to US national security.
The ban also applies to Hikvision and Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
- Meiya Pico -
With forensics as a core business, Meiya Pico has drawn the attention of rights groups to be allegedly behind "MFSocket", an application that allows police to extract contacts, messages and other personal data from smartphones.
- Yitu -
Yitu Technology has facial and voice recognition applications that allow banks to authenticate an identity.
- iFlytek -
IFlytek is one of the leading speech recognition companies in China.
In 2017, the company was accused by the human rights NGO Human Rights Watch of working with the Chinese authorities on a surveillance system that could identify voices in telephone conversations.
- Yixin -
Based in Beijing, Yixin sells CCTV, facial recognition and anti-terrorism products.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the company provided wireless surveillance systems at bus stops to prevent possible terrorist attacks.
© 2019 AFP