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US House passes 3 bills on China human rights, Asia-Pacific cooperation
- One piece of legislation authorises further action to protect Uygur population, while another would help counter Beijing’s disinformation about Tibet
- Xi Jinping ‘trying to rebrand Xinjiang’ as business and tourist destination and ‘erase Uygurs’ from global community’s memory, bill sponsor says
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Bochen Hanin Washington
Three pieces of US legislation focused on China’s human rights situation and US security cooperation with Asia-Pacific allies cleared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday.
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The first of the three, introduced by California Republican Young Kim, authorises further action to protect China’s Uygur populations from alleged human rights abuses, including appointing a “special coordinator for Uygur issues” in the US State Department. It passed 414-6.
The second, sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern, amends the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 – which codified much of US political and programmatic support for Tibet – to authorise efforts to counter Beijing’s disinformation about the autonomous region. It passed 392-28.
The third, sponsored by the lead Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks, establishes an inter-parliamentary working group between Washington and the three other member countries of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue: Australia, India and Japan. It passed 379-39.
This follows the House’s passage of a bill on Tuesday that restricts funds from the State Department and America’s international development agency (USAID) from flowing into China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
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