-the bill urges US to stop China’s human rights abuses against Muslims/minority groups
-stop certain US technologies from being exported to China for state sponsored oppression
Just a couple days ago, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to sanction Chinese officials over the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. China has responded; Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed that the bill defames and discredits Beijing’s efforts to fight against extremism and terrorism in the region. Furthermore, it warns the US that Xinjiang is China’s internal affairs and they have no room for foreign forces. On Tuesday, the mainland media reported that China was to consider and stop US officials and lawmakers from visiting Xinjiang.
The Ugyur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response Act (UIGHUR) of 2019 passed with 407 to 1 votes, which has the US government sanctioning Chinese officials who are found to be involved in the mass internment of minority ethnic groups such as the Ugyur in the region of Xinjiang. It took months to negotiate and word as to how forceful the law should be enforced. The bill also restricts and monitors China-bound US technology that may be used to “suppress individual privacy, freedom of movement, and other basic human rights”.
As early as 2017, China has been reported to have sent one million Uygurs and a large Muslim group to mass internment camps, being held by force for political indoctrination. Beijing claims that they’re vocational training centers and are used to counter religious extremism. This defense doesn’t convince US lawmakers as they recently passed sanctions.
The bill, updated, called now the Ugyur Human Rights Policy Act, had been approved by Congress in September. Basically, it appoints a coordinator to submit a list of all Chinese officials involved in four months or less. The UIGHUR Act also implements that upon that submission, that those individuals, by the Global Magnitsky Act, get their US-based assets seized and be barred from entering US soil. This move also comes at a time when bi-partisan legislation is needed by President Trump to open the gate to stopping the erosion of freedoms in Hong Kong by China.
Now, it will go to the Senate, where it can be changed before a final resolution of the bill would be placed on Trump’s desk.
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