Stop interfering in our internal affairs, says China after US blacklists companies

China's foreign ministry on Tuesday strongly denounced the United States' recent blacklisting of some of its top artificial intelligence start-ups, calling it an "interference in China's domestic affairs".

The US Commerce Department said in a filing the "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."

"We urge the US to immediately correct its mistakes and withdraw the relevant decisions, and stop interfering with China's internal affairs. China will take firm and strong actions to firmly protect its interests of sovereignty, safety and development," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a briefing in Beijing.

The blacklisting targets 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight companies including video surveillance firm Hikvision, as well as leaders in facial recognition technology SenseTime Group Ltd and Megvii Technology Ltd.