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White House to consider China sanctions bill in response to human rights violations

The sanctions are in response to the crackdown against Uighur Muslims in China - REUTERS
The sanctions are in response to the crackdown against Uighur Muslims in China - REUTERS

US politicians introduced legislation on Wednesday urging the White House to consider sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for the ongoing crackdown against Muslim minorities, and halt the sale of US technology potentially used by China for surveillance.

A draft bill seen by The Telegraph calls specifically for sanctions against Chen Quanguo, a senior official and Communist Party secretary for Xinjiang, the northwestern province home to the majority of Uighur Muslims. 

The sanctions would be imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act – which would freeze violators’ US assets, prohibit travel to the US, and ban Americans from doing business with them – as well as a federal religious freedom law.

Mr Chen, who previously instituted similar policies in Tibet, is thought to be the architect of the recent security crackdown.

The bill will also ask Donald Trump, the US president, to consider a ban on US technology exports to China that could be used in the surveillance and mass detention of ethnic Uighurs

Surveillance technologies are spreading across China. Beijing is planning to roll out facial recognition technology on its subway system, and cities have started using software that can track people by their gait alone, and identify people even when they have their faces covered. 

Senator Marco Rubio, who introduced the proposed legislation in the US Senate, said: "The United States must hold accountable officials in the Chinese government and Communist Party responsible for gross violations of human rights and possible crimes against humanity, including the internment in ‘political re-education’ camps of as many as a million Uighur and other predominantly Muslim minorities."

Mr Rubio, a Republican, added: "I’m proud to lead this important initiative that elevates the current crisis in Xinjiang, puts forth policy options to address it, and signals that we will not tolerate Chinese government intrusions on American soil."

Gait recognition is part of a major push to develop artificial-intelligence and data-driven surveillance across China - Credit: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
Gait recognition is part of a major push to develop artificial-intelligence and data-driven surveillance across China Credit: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

The bill also called for the FBI to report on harassment and intimidation by Chinese officials of ethnic Uighurs and Chinese nationals studying or working in the US.

It condemned human rights violations in the region and called for the immediate closure of internment camps in Xinjiang.

The bill also called on Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, to establish in a report the number of people detained, surveillance methods being used, and to consider a special position at the State Department which would be titled the United States Special Coordinator for Xinjiang.

Targeted sanctions should be considered for individual human rights abusers in China's government, the Chinese Communist Party, and in the state security apparatus, it said.

Chris Smith, a Republican congressman who introduced an identical bill in the US House of Representatives, said: “The internment of over a million Uighurs and other Muslims in China is a staggering evil and should be treated by the international community as a crime against humanity.

"The Chinese government’s creation of a vast system of what can only be called concentration camps cannot be tolerated in the 21st century.

"This legislation gives the Administration the tools to take a firm stand against Beijing’s plans to erase the religious identity, culture, and language of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s western province."

He added: " US businesses should be barred from helping China create a high-tech police state in Xinjiang province.”    

US sanctions would be a strong move given an ongoing trade war and efforts between Beijing and Washington to reach a deal.

Still, international criticism against China is growing – about a dozen Western countries including the UK, US, Canada, France and Germany have called Beijing to shut down its camps, where the UN estimates as many as one million people could be held.

On Tuesday, six UN-appointed human rights experts also explicitly called on Beijing to roll back such “anti-extremist” regulations that violate freedoms of expression.

Beijing has long denied that this is happening, saying instead that people are being held in “vocational training centres” or “re-education schools” to help scrub out extremist tendencies as part of larger counterterrorism efforts.

The foreign ministry has also accused the US of meddling in affairs outside of its borders.