The United States on Thursday added two subsidiaries of Chinese genetics company BGI to a trade blacklist over allegations it conducted genetic analysis and surveillance activities for Beijing, which Washington says was used to repress ethnic minorities in China. In 2020, the US Department of Commerce added two other BGI affiliates, Xinjiang Silk Road BGI and Beijing Liuhe BGI, to the trade blacklist over their alleged involvement in human right abuses against Uyghur and other mainly Muslim minorities in China’s far western region of Xinjiang. BGI Group issued a statement at the time denying the allegations, saying it “does not engage in unethical practices and does not provide gene technology for the surveillance of Uighurs