US religious-rights official Gayle Manchin ‘flattered’ by China’s sanctions in dispute over Uygurs

Name: Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims
Uploaded: 2021-03-29T02:00:13.000Z
Duration: 3 min 36 s
Description: Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims

Beijing sanctioned the chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, banning her from entering the Chinese mainland

US Secretary of State Blinken said the Chinese government sanctions only draw more international scrutiny to the ‘ongoing genocide in Xinjiang’

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Reuters

Published: 10:00am, 29 Mar 2021Updated: 10:02am, 29 Mar 2021

A US religious-rights official said she was “flattered” to be the target of Chinese government sanctions stemming from a dispute between the two countries over Beijing’s treatment of Uygur Muslims, which Washington has described as a genocide.

The Biden administration on Saturday condemned China’s sanctions against two Americans and a Canadian lawmaker, which followed those imposed by the United States, European Union, Britain and Canada last week for what they say are violations of the rights of Uygurs and other ethnic minorities China’s western region of Xinjiang.

Beijing sanctioned the chair and vice-chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Gayle Manchin and Tony Perkins, banning them from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau. It also prohibited Chinese citizens and institutions from doing business or having any exchanges with them.

“I feel flattered to be recognised by Communist China for calling out genocidal crimes against religious and ethnic minorities in the country,” Manchin said.

“While I don’t have plans to travel to China this summer, I won’t stop speaking out when egregious violations of religious freedom are taking place as they are in China,” said Manchin, who is married to Democratic US Senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin.

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Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims

USCIRF last year recommended that the US government and its partners sanction China for abuses in Xinjiang.

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