Beijing – China warned Wednesday that a “price must be paid” after the USHouse of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation seekingsanctions against senior Chinese officials over the crackdown on mainlyMuslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.
The legislation adds to tensions between the two superpowers just as theyare locked in negotiations to finalise a “phase one” deal to resolve theirprotracted trade war.
US President Donald Trump had already angered Beijing after he signedlegislation supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, promptingChina earlier this week to impose sanctions on US-based NGOs and suspendfuture visits by US warships to the semi-autonomous territory.
Hours after the Uighur Act of 2019 passed the House late Tuesday, theChinese foreign ministry said the bill should not become law and issued anominous warning: “For all wrong actions and words… the proper price mustbe paid.”
China’s vice minister of foreign affairs also later summoned William Klein,acting US charge d’affaires in China, to lodge a protest.
The legislation condemns Beijing’s “gross human rights violations” linkedto the crackdown in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where upwards ofone million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are believed to beheld in re-education camps.
The measure, which passed 407 to 1, is a stronger version of the bill thatcleared the Senate in September. The texts must be reconciled into one billfor Trump’s signature.
The latest House measure condemns the arbitrary mass detention of Uighursand calls for closure of the re-education camps where, according to rightsgroups and US lawmakers, they have been held and abused.
The bill notably urges Trump to slap sanctions on Chinese officials behindthe Uighur policy, including Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party chief forXinjiang.
“Today the human dignity and human rights of the Uighur community are underthreat from Beijing’s barbarous actions, which are an outrage to thecollective conscience of the world,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told hercolleagues shortly before the vote.
Congress “is taking a critical step to counter Beijing’s horrific humanrights abuses against Uighurs,” she said.
Pelosi lashed out at Chinese authorities for orchestrating a crackdown thatincludes pervasive mass state surveillance, solitary confinement, beatings,forced sterilisation “and other forms of torture”.
– ‘Wantonly smears China’ –
When asked if the bill could impact trade talks, Hua did not directlyanswer the question.
But she said there was “no way this can have no effect on China-USrelations as well as the two countries’ cooperation in important areas”.
In an earlier statement, Hua said the bill “wantonly smears China’s effortsto eliminate extremism and combat terrorism” in Xinjiang.
Read Top Stories
The Chinese state-owned tabloid The Global Times quoted experts as sayingBeijing will take “strong countermeasures” including releasing an”unreliable entity list” that could sanction and restrict some US entitiesin the country and impose sanctions on US officials.
Last month two huge leaks of official documents offered more details aboutChina’s network of internment camps in Xinjiang.
Government papers obtained by the International Consortium of InvestigativeJournalists (ICIJ) outlined the need to prevent escape, double lock doorsand constantly monitor detainees — even during toilet breaks.
The New York Times reported, based on internal papers it had obtained, thatChinese President Xi Jinping ordered officials to act with “absolutely nomercy” against separatism and extremism in Xinjiang in 2014 following adeadly knife attack blamed on separatists.
Rights groups and witnesses accuse China of forcibly trying to draw Uighursaway from their Islamic customs and integrate them into the majority Hanculture.
After initially denying the camps’ existence, Beijing cast the facilitiesas “vocational education centres” where “students” learn Mandarin and jobskills in an effort to steer them away from religious extremism, terrorismand separatism.
– ‘Wipe out Uighur identity’ –
The House bill would require the State Department to produce a reportwithin one year on the crackdown in Xinjiang.
And it would require the Commerce Department to ban US exports to entitiesin Xinjiang that are known to be used in the detention or surveillance ofMuslim minorities, including facial recognition technology.
Thomas Massie, the sole member of Congress to vote against both the HongKong and Uighur bills, said he did so because he considered the issues tobe Chinese domestic affairs.
“When our government meddles in the internal affairs of foreign countries,it invites those governments to meddle in our affairs,” he said in a tweet.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio warned that China’s government and CommunistParty are “working to systematically wipe out the ethnic and culturalidentities” of Uighurs.
The Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP), an advocacy group, said the USaction “paves the way for other countries to act” and “gives Uyghurs hope”.-APP/AFP
