WASHINGTON – A senior US official says the United States would pursuesanctions on Chinese officials involved in a sweeping security crackdown inthe western region of Xinjiang if they were deemed appropriate fordesignation under a law targeting human rights offenders.
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Laura Stone said Wednesday thatthe US was deeply concerned about China’s detention of at least “tens ofthousands” of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims and could take action underthe 2016 Global Magnitsky Act.
Beijing has defended its crackdown as a “People’s War on Terror” and anecessary move to purge separatist and religious extremist elements fromXinjiang, a vast region with more than 10 million Muslims. But anextrajudicial detention program has swept up many people, includingrelatives of American citizens, on ostensible offenses ranging fromaccessing foreign websites to contacting overseas relatives.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Stone said the US was particularlyconcerned about the detained family members of six journalists — four UScitizens and two US permanent residents who have reported on Xinjiang —working for Washington DC-based Radio Free Asia.
“The information we have, including about detention centers, paints adisturbing picture,” Stone said. “We will continue to raise our concernswith the Chinese government and call for legal due process in the detentionof any citizens.”
Xinjiang authorities have established a network of detention centersoperating seemingly without legal basis. Rights groups estimate suchcenters are holding at least tens of thousands of people who receiveso-called political education for indefinite periods. It is just oneelement in a far-reaching security regime credited to Chen Quanguo, theCommunist Party official previously placed in charge of Tibet. Otheraspects of the campaign include all-encompassing digital surveillance ,mass deployment of police and severe regulations against religious customsand dress.