JAKARTA - The United States (US) has imposed sanctions on high-ranking Chinese officials who are suspected of committing human rights violations against the Uighur Muslim minority. This step will be the umpteenth step. A move that will increase tensions between the US and China.
The US blacklisted the Secretary of the Communist Party of the Xinjiang region, Chen Quanguo, a member of China's powerful Politburo, and three other officials. The highly anticipated action follows months of US hostility towards China over China's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and its tighter grip on Hong Kong.
Sanctions were also imposed on Zhu Hailun, former deputy party secretary and deputy secretary of the current regional legislature, the Xinjiang People's Congress; Wang Mingshan, director and secretary of the Communist Party of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau; and former security officer Huo Liujun.
Chen Quanguo is known to have signed a policy quickly after taking the top position in Xinjiang in 2016. At that time there were mass "anti-terror" actions in Xinjiang's largest cities involving tens of thousands of paramilitary troops and police. Chen is considered a senior official responsible for the security crackdown in Xinjiang.
One US authority said the blacklist was no joke. "Not only in terms of symbolic influence and reputation, but it has real significance in a person's ability to move around the world and do business."
The Chinese embassy in the US has so far responded to this. The Chinese side has so far denied the persecution of Uighur Muslims. They say the camps provide vocational training and are needed to combat extremism.
The sanctions are imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US government to target human rights violators around the world. They will block all things related to sanctions related people.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US was also barring Chen, Zhu, Wang and their immediate family, as well as other unnamed Chinese Communist Party officials from traveling to the US. The World Uighur Congress Group welcomed the move and called on the European Union and other countries to follow suit.
US Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is sponsoring a bill signed by US President Donald Trump on Uighur Muslims, said the move was "long overdue".
"For too long, Chinese officials have not been held accountable for committing atrocities that may amount to crimes against humanity," Rubio said.
The Associated Press reported last month that China is trying to cut birth rates among Uighurs. They practice forced birth control. The Chinese government condemned the report and said that all the information was false.
Some time ago, despite Trump's public comments about China, former national security adviser John Bolton said that Trump supports Chinese President Xi to continue building detention camps in Xinjiang. Trump is also known to ask Xi Jinping for help to win the US election in November. But Trump argued that he was postponing tougher sanctions on China over Uyghur human rights because of concerns such steps would disrupt trade negotiations with China.
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