Block 1, 1F & 2F Harbour View, 12 Science Park, West Avenue, Hong Kong New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China
Reg. ID
2162198, C.R. No.
Official reason
OFAC is also identifying a Chinese firm, SenseTime Group Limited (SenseTime), as a Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Company (NS-CMIC) pursuant to E.O. 13959, as amended by E.O. 14032. SenseTime owns or controls, directly or indirectly, a person who operates or has operated in the surveillance technology sector of the PRC’s economy. SenseTime 100 percent owns Shenzhen Sensetime Technology Co. Ltd., which has developed facial recognition programs that can determine a target’s ethnicity, with a particular focus on identifying ethnic Uyghurs. When applying for patent applications, Shenzhen Sensetime Technology Co. Ltd. has highlighted its ability to identify Uyghurs wearing beards, sunglasses, and masks.
Executive Order 13959 Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies (as amended by Executive Order 14032 Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Certain Companies of the People’s Republic of China)
On November 12, 2020, the President, invoking the authority of, inter alia, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701–1706) (IEEPA), issued Executive Order (E.O.) 13959, “Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies” (85 FR 73185, November 17, 2020).
In E.O. 13959, the President found, among other things, that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is increasingly exploiting United States capital to resource and to enable the development and modernization of its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses, which continues to allow the PRC to directly threaten the United States homeland and United States forces overseas, including by developing and deploying weapons of mass destruction, advanced conventional weapons, and malicious cyber-enabled actions against the United States and its people, and that key to the development of the PRC's military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses is the country's large, ostensibly private economy. The President therefore found that the PRC's military-industrial complex, by directly supporting the efforts of the PRC's military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and declared a national emergency with respect to that threat.
On January 13, 2021, the President issued E.O. 13974, “Amending Executive Order 13959—Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Communist Chinese Military Companies” (86 FR 4875, January 19, 2021), which amended E.O. 13959. Further, on June 3, 2021, the President issued E.O. 14032, “Addressing the Threat From Securities Investments That Finance Certain Companies of the People's Republic of China” (86 FR 30145, June 7, 2021), which amended E.O. 13959 and revoked E.O. 13974 in its entirety.
In E.O. 14032, the President found that additional steps are necessary to address the national emergency declared in E.O. 13959, including the threat posed by the military-industrial complex of the PRC and its involvement in military, intelligence, and security research and development programs, and weapons and related equipment production under the PRC's Military-Civil Fusion strategy. In addition, he found that the use of Chinese surveillance technology outside the PRC and the development or use of Chinese surveillance technology to facilitate repression or serious human rights abuse constitute unusual and extraordinary threats, which have their source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in E.O. 13959 to address those threats.
OFAC is issuing the Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Sanctions Regulations, 31 CFR part 586 (the “Regulations”), to implement E.O. 13959, as amended by E.O. 14032, pursuant to authorities delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury in E.O. 13959, as amended. Copies of E.O. 13959 and E.O. 14032 appear in appendix A and appendix B to this part, respectively. Because E.O. 13974 has been revoked in its entirety, it does not appear in an appendix to this part.
