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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US State Department has expressed deep concern over China's growing crackdown on the Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region.
FILE PHOTO: A police patrol walks in front of the Id Kah Mosque in the old town of Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, March 22, 2017. REUTERS / Thomas Peter
Discussions have grown in the US government over possible economic sanctions in response to reports of mass detentions of Uyghur ethnic groups and other Muslims, resulting in international outcry. growing, said US Congressional sources.
The Trump Administration against China, with which it is engaged in a trade war, would take any sanction decision in favor of human rights, while seeking the help of Beijing to resolve a conflict over North American nuclear weapons. Korean.
A US official said the idea of sanctions was still in the discussion stage, and one of the sources told Congress that a decision did not appear to be imminent.
"We are deeply troubled by the worsening of the crackdown, not only against the Uyghurs (but also) the Kazakhs, the other Muslims of this region of China," said the spokesman of the Department of Justice. State Heather Nauert at a press conference. .
Nauert admitted that the State Department received a letter in late August from a bipartisan group of US lawmakers asking state secretary Mike Pompeo to impose sanctions on a number of Chinese officials accused of overseeing the policy. Among them, Chen Quanguo, leader of the Communist Party in Xinjiang and a member of the party's political bureau.
According to one of the sources of the Congress, sanctions were also envisaged by legislators against several Chinese companies involved in the construction of detention camps and the creation of surveillance systems used to monitor and monitor the Uyghurs.
Nauert refused to discuss details of any US government action. "We will not preview the penalties that may or may not occur," Nauert said.
Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project tweeted Monday a photo of activist Dolkun Isa, president of the Uyghur World Congress, at the White House, commenting, "A meeting with White House officials defenders of rights . "
Isa, speaking to Reuters by phone from Brussels, where he said he was scheduled to meet EU officials on Wednesday, declined to say which White House officials he had met in Washington .
Isa said he had the impression that Americans "seriously considered" imposing sanctions on top Chinese officials, including Chen, the Party leader in the Western region.
China on Tuesday urged United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to respect her sovereignty after urging Beijing to allow observers in the region and expressing concern over the situation in the country.
Beijing said Xinjiang was facing a serious threat from Islamist militants and separatists who are plotting to attack and stir up tension between the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority, which calls the region and the ethnic group. Chinese Han.
Last month, a US human rights panel said it received credible reports that nearly one million ethnic Uighurs could be held in extrajudicial custody in Xinjiang, and called for their release.
"There are credible reports that many, many thousands have been held in detention centers since April 2017, and the numbers are quite significant compared to what we can say so far," he said. declared Nauert.
US sanctions could be imposed under the Magnitsky Global Law, a federal law that allows the US government to target perpetrators of human rights violations around the world with freezes on US assets, bans on travel to the US United States and US trade bans.
Reported by Matt Spetalnick, Steve Holland and David Brunnstrom; Edited by Richard Chang and Grant McCool
