The Trump administration has taken action against Chinese officials for their involvement in human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, where Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups have been detained and tortured.
“The United States will not stand idly by as the (Chinese Communist Party) carries out human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, to include forced labor, arbitrary mass detention, and forced population control, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement announcing visa restrictions against the three officials, which block them and their families from entering the US.
According to the US State Department, the Chinese government has detained “more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups” who are reportedly “subjected to torture, cruel and inhumane treatment such as physical and sexual abuse, forced labor, and death.”
The top US diplomat recently condemned this “brutal campaign of repression” as “a human-rights violation on a scale we have not seen since World War II.”
At a press conference Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China would approve “reciprocal measures” in response to the new sanctions.
“The US decision is a serious interference in China’s internal affairs and is a grave violation of international relations. And it is deeply detrimental to China-US relations. We reject and condemn that,” Zhao told reporters.
In recent months, the Trump administration has increased its aggressive rhetoric and actions towards China on all fronts, including clamping down on Chinese media entities, going after Chinese pharmaceutical and research cybertheft and accusing the Chinese government of seeking to “remake the world” in its image.
