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Chinese surveillance firm hires former top U.S. sanctions official as lobbyist

07 July 2021
Dan Ackermann

A Chinese surveillance firm has enlisted the help of a former senior U.S. official at the Treasury Department's sanctions program, just weeks after the company was reported to have ties to the Chinese military, records show.

Why it matters: The company, Hikvision, has disputed its place on a Pentagon blacklist of companies with Chinese military ties. The new hire by its D.C. lobbying firm is just the latest aimed at rolling back U.S. government measures that threaten to deal a body blow to its business.

What's new: The lobbying firm, Mercury Public Affairs, announced last month that it had hired Peter Kuick, a former senior sanctions policy advisor at Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control. Last week, Mercury added Kucik to its Hikvision account.

  • Kucik's hiring was announced just days after the Wall Street Journal reported on new research on Hikvision's deep ties to the Chinese military.
  • The company disputed the reporting, saying it had never "conducted research and development work for Chinese military applications," and that any equipment sold to China's army was manufactured for "dual use" military and commercial purposes.
  • The WSJ report was based on findings by the surveillance technology research service IPVM, which also flagged Kucik's hiring to Axios.
  • Previous reporting has linked Hikvision to the surveillance of Uighur Muslims in mosques and detention camps in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. The company has denied “any inappropriate actions in Xinjiang."

A Hikvision spokesperson declined to comment on Kucik's work for the company. Mercury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Background: Last summer, the Defense Department added Hikvision to a list of companies it deemed were "owned or controlled" by the Chinese military.

  • The designation didn't carry penalties but was seen as a potential precursor to U.S. sanctions.
  • In 2019, the Commerce Department also restricted Hikvision's ability to do business with American companies.

Between the lines: Kucik is just the latest Mercury addition to its Hikvision team.

  • Late last month it brought on former Representative Toby Moffett, a Connecticut Democrat who advised President Joe Biden's 2008 White House bid.
  • Earlier this year, Mercury added former California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer to the Hikvision account. She quickly stepped back from that work, citing public criticism.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.