US Company Ceases Selling DNA Collecting Equipment To China

Thermo Fisher, a biotech firm in Massachusetts, says that it will no longer sell equipment to Xinjiang, a Chinese province where local authorities have initiated a statewide campaign for Uighurs monitoring and tracking. The company stated that its choice was “consistent with Thermo Fisher’s values, ethics code, and policies.”

The period between 2016 and 2017, 36 million people were ordered by Chinese authorities to get medical checkups, as stated by Xinhua News, a state-run newsroom. Human Rights Watch said that among collected identifying data were photos of irises, fingerprints, and blood samples.

NYT revealed that Thermo Fisher was the supplier for lap equipment that was used for DNA collecting. In the company’s annual report for 2017, out of its $20.9 billion revenue, China contributed for around 10 percent. Moreover, in the report, China was also described as “our greatest success story in emerging markets.”

By collecting DNA of Uighurs, Chinese authorities were setting up an extensive database so that they can pinpoint any individual who wanted to defy the system. They also took advantage of a visiting Yale professor’s shared data. His research was mentioned in Chinese state patents. However, the local government of Xinjiang denied any relation to DNA collecting issue.

Multiple human rights groups, as well as the media, report that Uighurs residing in Xinjiang have been locked up in camps. Most of them practice Islam and are treated differently because they belong to a minority population amid the majority Han Chinese of China. For the past ten years, the Chinese government has blamed the Uighurs for terrorist attacks.

US tech companies have sometimes been involved in China’s surveillance system project. For example, in the early 2000s, Cisco sold routers to China when the country was establishing an internet censorship system. Or in order to continue its operations, Microsoft has agreed to censor search results in China on the company’s Bing search engine.

Some tech companies decided to leave China, such as Google in 2010, because of human rights concerns. But usually, they continue to be involved indirectly, attracted by the country’s huge internet user base that will increase their profitability. After the Chinese government banned Facebook in 2009 after Xinjiang activists were reported to have utilized the platform to launch protests, the company has tried to reenter the country repeatedly.

For many companies, it is an ethical dilemma, whether to cooperate with China or not. In one of its blog posts, Human Rights Watch regarded Thermo Fisher’s decision as a “necessary, but insufficient” measure. The director of HRW’s China wrote:

Collecting identifying data of an individual has somewhat become mainstream outside of Xinjiang. However, there is no official report on mandatory checkups. To comply with the Chinese government’s requirement, all foreigners who land in airports must submit their fingerprints. More than 20 million cameras have been installed around the country to identify jaywalkers, as well as other minor lawbreakings, on the streets.