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| A ChinaAid delegation meets with Senator Marco Rubio (center). (Photo: ChinaAid) |
ChinaAid
(Washington, D.C.—Nov. 20, 2018) U.S. policymakers introduced a bill to the Senate on Wednesday calling for sanctions on Chinese officials for their treatment of ethnic minorities in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang region.
The legislation, which has the support of both of America’s major political parties, hopes to hold China accountable for its racial and religious profiling of around 1 million people of Turkic descent, most of whom are Muslims. Fueled by an increasing but unfounded fear of terrorism, Chinese authorities have been arresting innocent individuals for actions as trivial as attempting to go abroad or asking if food is halal and imprisoning them in notorious camps. While behind bars, they are often tortured, starved, and forced to study Communist Party propaganda.
In light of these abuses, the bill is asking the Trump Administration to sanction several Chinese officials, including Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, for their involvement.
“Chinese government officials should be held accountable for their complicity in this evil and U.S. businesses should be barred from helping China create a high-tech police state in Xinjiang,” U.S. Representative Chris Smith said, according to Reuters. Smith co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) with Senator Marco Rubio, who put introduced the bill along with Senator Bob Menendez.
China denied the accusations and insisted that the U.S. should focus on combating human rights abuses on its home front, Reuters reported. However, many people of Turkic descent living in Xinjiang have spoken openly about the imprisonment of themselves and their family members.
ChinaAid joins Rubio, Menendez, and Smith in urging the Trump Administration to take action regarding those imprisoned in Xinjiang and uniformly urge China to immediately cease their persecution of innocent Muslims in the region. We will also continue to expose the abuses China commits in order to stand for human rights, religious freedom, and rule of law.
ChinaAid Media Team
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