US imposes visa restrictions on Chinese officials over ‘brutal suppression’ of Uygurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, citing ‘internment camps’
- Sanctions target those ‘believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, the detention or abuse of Uygurs, Kazakhs or other members of Muslim minorities’
- Announcement is made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The US government on Tuesday placed visa restrictions on Chinese government officials suspected of repressing Uygurs and other ethnic minorities in China.
“The Chinese government has instituted a highly repressive campaign against” Uygurs and the other Muslim ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which “includes mass detentions in internment camps”, Pompeo said.
The new sanctions follow the US Commerce Department’s decision on Monday to restrict the export of US products to 28 Chinese government and business entities identified as playing a role in the “brutal suppression” of Muslims in China. The “blacklist” of 20 local public security bureaus in Xinjiang and eight technology giants includes Hikvision and Zhejiang Dahua Technology, two of the world’s largest manufacturers of video surveillance products.
“The United States calls on the People’s Republic of China to immediately end its campaign of repression in Xinjiang, release all those arbitrarily detained and cease efforts to coerce members of Chinese Muslim minority groups residing abroad to return to China to face an uncertain fate,” Pompeo said.