Thermo Fisher halts forensic tech sales in Tibet

By Andrew Silver

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific has pledged to stop selling  forensic technology and equipment in Tibet that could be used for identifying individuals, a spokesperson for the company said. 

The U.S. firm had offered dedicated human identification (HID) technology in Tibet, a region with a population of about 4 million people in western China, which a spokesperson told Reuters was used for applications that included tracking criminals.

Sales were "consistent with routine forensic investigation in an area of this size", they said, but "based on a number of factors we made the decision in mid-2023 to cease sales of HID products in the region ". 

China seized control over Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a "peaceful liberation" that helped unshackle the remote Himalayan region from its "feudalist" past. Since then, China has often been accused of stifling religious and cultural freedoms in the predominantly Buddhist region, an accusation which Beijing rejects.

The spokesperson declined to explain the reasons for its decision, which follows a similar announcement in 2019 that it would stop selling genetic sequencing equipment in another region of China, Xinjiang.

A report released in August 2022 by a U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights found that China’s detention of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity, which the country has vigorously denied. Rights groups and media have also documented how authorities in Xinjiang were building a DNA database for Uyghurs, which authorities have denied.

The latest known restriction on the Thermo Fisher’s China sales, first reported by Axios, has been welcomed by some shareholders. They had suggested there could exist a risk of law enforcement agencies committing human rights violations during the use of such technology. 

One, Azzad Asset Management, wrote in a Dec. 26 letter to Thermo Fisher it had withdrawn a shareholder proposal regarding human rights after the U.S. firm said it would cease HID product sales in Tibet as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to a copy seen by Reuters. 

The letter, which was signed by Thermo Fisher Vice President and Secretary Julia Chen, said the firm would "follow controls" similar to those adopted for halting sales of some products in Xinjiang.

Azzad Asset Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. The Thermo Fisher spokesperson declined to comment on the letter and why there was a delay between its decision to cease sales in mid-2023 and waiting until Dec. 31 for the ban to be in place.

China’s State Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Andrew Silver; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)