A CalSTRS spokeswoman is quoted in the report saying, "We are tracking the situation given this new development with the Department of Commerce's announcement," and a spokesman for the New York teachers' fund is cited saying, "Our holdings are primarily held according to their weights in passive portfolios matching the MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. index, our policy benchmark. We are monitoring the situation."

The Florida Retirement System also held shares as of the end of June.

Being blacklisted bars the companies in question from purchasing certain U.S. technologies, like software and microchips, unless they've been granted specific permission. The blacklist does not mean U.S. investors are barred from owning their shares.

Hikvision, however, was barred from selling its products to U.S. federal agencies lest its technology gain access to "sensitive" systems. It is appealing the blacklist, with Reuters reporting that its general manager, Hu Yangzhong, has said that the firm has also hired a human rights lawyer to defend itself.

"Hikvision has emerged as the corporate poster child for enabling Chinese human rights abuses, with its surveillance cameras visible atop the walls of detention camps incarcerating some one million or more Uighurs in Xinjiang," Roger Robinson, president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based risk consultancy RWR Advisory Group, is quoted saying.

He adds that many Americans are unsuspecting owners because the shares are owned by index funds with little or no exploration into such factors as human rights abuses or national security.

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