The newspaper said that the US Treasury will place SenseTime on a list of “Chinese military-industrial complex companies”.

In June, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that barred Americans from investing in companies on the list.

It added that the action against SenseTime will be part of a package of sanctions against a number of countries to mark Human Rights Day.

SenseTime did not offer an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. The company is looking to raise up to US$767 million in its Hong Kong IPO, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.

The US alleges SenseTime is among Chinese companies that played a role in human rights abuses against Muslim minority groups in China, an allegation which Beijing denies.

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labour.

SenseTime was placed on a US commerce department blacklist in 2019 and the company said at the time the ban was imposed that it strongly opposed the US trade restrictions and would work with relevant authorities to resolve the situation.