The Chinese Hikvision’s products can be found anywhere from police surveillance systems to baby monitors with 4.8 million networks of Hikvision devices in more than 191 countries. Hikvision could be sanctioned for aiding the Chinese government’s human rights violations in Xinjiang. The US Treasury is reportedly considering adding Hikvision to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List, usually reserved for countries like North Korea or Iran. Adding Hikvision to the SDN could create tensions between the US and China—it would open up a new front in international sanctions, one in which tech companies increasingly find themselves embroiled in geopolitical power struggles.
