US lawmakers yesterday were to introduce legislation urging a stronger response to China’s crackdown on minority Muslims, including possible sanctions against a senior official, a move China decried as hypocrisy.
The legislation would ask US President Donald Trump to condemn China’s actions in Xinjiang, call for a new “special coordinator” of US policy on the issue and seek consideration of a ban on the export of US technology that Beijing could use in surveillance and mass detention of ethnic Uighurs, a copy of the measure seen by reporters said.
The lawmakers want the Trump administration to consider human rights-related sanctions against Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo (陳全國), who is also a member of the politburo, and other officials “credibly alleged to be responsible” for the security crackdown, the measure is to say.
“Chinese government officials should be held accountable for their complicity in this evil and US businesses should be barred from helping China create a high-tech police state in Xinjiang,” said US Representative Chris Smith, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan legislation to be presented in both the US Senate and House of Representatives.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill, which is also being put forward by Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said that the US and its lawmakers had no right to interfere in other nations, considering its own racial problems.
“It’s too strange, they always selectively overlook the various problems their own country is facing, zealously interfering in other countries’ internal affairs, moreover based on wrong information and with strong ideological prejudice,” she told a daily news briefing.
Hua cited statistics on the higher rate of miscarriages of justice for African Americans versus their white counterparts, and the economic disadvantages facing minority groups.
“I hope US lawmakers can care a bit more about domestic US matters and do their job a bit better,” she added.
Trump’s senior aides have become more vocal in their criticism of China’s treatment of the Uighurs, which has sparked an international outcry.
However, any sanctions would be a rare move on human rights grounds by the Trump administration against China.
Beijing has dismissed accusations of abuses in Xinjiang, urging the US and other nations to stay out of its internal affairs.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Tuesday said that the world should ignore “gossip” about developments in Xinjiang and trust authorities there, when asked if Beijing would allow international observers to inspect camps for Muslims in the region.
Western nations, including Canada, France, Germany and the US, have urged China to shut down the camps, where activists say as many as 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims are being detained.
Rubio said in a statement that some Chinese officials were responsible for “possible crimes against humanity.”
For several months, the Trump administration has been weighing sanctions against Chinese officials and companies operating in Xinjiang, US officials have said on condition of anonymity.
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