US punishes senior Chinese officials over Uighur rights

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on senior Chinese officials as it demanded an end to “horrific” abuses against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.

Three officials will be refused US visas and see any US-based assets frozen including Chen Quanguo, the Chinese Communist Party chief for the Xinjiang region and architect of Beijing’s hardline policies on minorities. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States was acting against “horrific and systematic abuses” in the western region including forced labor, mass detention and forced population control.

“The United States will not stand idly by as the CCP carries out human rights abuses targeting Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang,” Pompeo said in a statement.

The other two officials hit with the full sanction were Wang Mingshan, the director of the public security bureau in Xinjiang, and Zhu Hailun, a former senior Communist leader in the region. The Treasury Department also imposed the financial sanctions on a fourth person, Huo Liujun, a former security official in Xinjiang, although Huo was not subjected to the visa restrictions.