Mubasher: The US Commerce Department said that it would put 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies to a trade blacklist.

The decision to add those entities to the so-called “Entity List” came over China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities, according to a Commerce Department filing.

“Entities have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups,” the department said.

The targeted Chinese entities include video surveillance gear maker Hikvision, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region People’s Government Public Security Bureau, 19 subsidiary agencies and eight commercial firms.

The blacklist will mean that companies or other entities from sourcing components from US companies without the approval of the US administration.

US officials said that the move was not related to this week’s fresh round of talks with Beijing.

Previously, the Commerce Department included Chinese tech behemoth Huawei and over 100 affiliates to the Entity List.