China promotes Xinjiang police chief targeted by US human rights sanctions

Wang Mingshan has been named a member of the region’s standing committee two months after he was barred from entering the United States

Promotion of public security officials suggests greater concern about stability, analyst says

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Wang Mingshan has been named a member of the Communist Party’s standing committee in Xinjiang. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:00pm, 21 Sep 2020Updated: 1:43am, 22 Sep 2020

Beijing has promoted Xinjiang’s police chief to a leadership position in the autonomous region, two months after he was sanctioned by the United States for alleged human rights abuses.

Wang Mingshan, Communist Party boss of the region’s public security bureau, is now a member of the party’s standing committee in Xinjiang, the official Xinjiang Daily reported.

The 56-year-old police chief was sanctioned in July along with regional party secretary Chen Quanguo over what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called “forced labour, arbitrary mass detention and forced population control” of ethnic minority people in Xinjiang, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith.

The sanctions targeted all assets held by the individuals in the US and barred them and their family members from travelling to the United States.

When the sanctions were announced, Wang said he felt “honoured” to be named, state news agency Xinhua reported in July.

Wang is expected to succeed Wang Junzheng as the head of the Xinjiang Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Wang Junzheng was named political commissar of the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in May.