US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday announced new visa restrictions on Chinese officials for their actions to repress ethnic and religious minorities both inside and outside the nation.
In a statement, which provided no specific details on which officials would be targeted, Blinken also reiterated a call for China to “end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is in the grip of a years-long “anti-terrorism” campaign that has seen more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities detained in a sprawling network of “re-education” camps, rights groups say.
Photo: AFP
REPRESSION
Blinken said that the visa restrictions would be focused on Chinese officials complicit in policies aimed at repressing religious and ethnic minorities, as well as other dissidents, human rights advocates and journalists.
He said that the actions by Chinese officials extend outside China’s borders, including into the US.
“The United States rejects efforts by PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials to harass, intimidate, surveil, and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and US citizens, who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations,” Blinken said.
“We again call on the PRC government to cease its acts of transnational repression, including attempting to silence Uighur American activists and other Uighur individuals serving the American people by denying exit permission to their family members in China,” he said.
PRESSURE
The new actions come only a few days after US President Joe Biden spoke via videoconference with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), in which Biden sought to pressure Xi not to provide support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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