Opinion | China’s tech companies navigate rough seas amid rising geopolitical tensions, slowing growth at home

Chinese technology companies have had to confront a barrage of negative headlines over the past few weeks that could impact their operations overseas.

The US government is said to have plans to impose fresh sanctions on Hangzhou-based surveillance camera maker Hikvision Digital Technology Co for its alleged involvement in human rights violations in China’s Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, according to a report last Thursday.

While that report was neither confirmed nor denied by American authorities, it fired the latest salvo in the simmering US-China tech war. Imposing further sanctions on Hikvision, which has been under a US trade blacklist since October 2019, would set a dangerous precedent that could lead to similar actions against other Chinese tech firms.

On April 26, Chinese drone maker DJI Technology Co said it will temporarily suspend all business activities in Russia and Ukraine after an internal assessment of “compliance requirements in various jurisdictions”. That came as a reminder of the fallacy that Chinese tech products and services can replace what the West offers in Russia, which has been hit by trade sanctions after invading Ukraine on February 24.