- Title: U.S. sanctions highest ranking Chinese official yet over Uighur rights
- Date: 10th July 2020
- Summary: CLASS ATTENDEES SINGING THE SONG "IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT" HOTAN COUNTY, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (FILE - JANUARY 5, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS AT HOTAN COUNTY VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRAINING CENTRE PERFORMING TRADITIONAL ETHNIC MINORITY DANCE
- Embargoed: 24th July 2020 06:59
- Keywords: Chen Quanguo China Chinese officials Muslim minority U.S. sanctions Uighur rights Xinjiang Zhu Hailun human rights vocational education training centre
- Location: BEIJING / DABANCHENG, TURPAN, KASHGAR, HOTAN COUNTY, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA
- City: BEIJING / DABANCHENG, TURPAN, KASHGAR, HOTAN COUNTY, XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA004CM86KAV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The United States on Thursday (July 9) imposed sanctions on the highest-ranking Chinese official yet targeted over alleged human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim minority, a move likely to further ratchet up tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Washington blacklisted Xinjiang region's Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, a member of China's powerful Politburo, and three other officials. The highly anticipated action followed months of Washington's hostility toward Beijing over China's handling of the novel coronavirus outbreak and its tightening grip on Hong Kong.
The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the U.S. government to target human rights violators worldwide by freezing any U.S. assets, banning U.S. travel and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.
Sanctions were also imposed on Zhu Hailun, a former deputy party secretary and current deputy secretary of regional legislative body the Xinjiang's People's Congress; Wang Mingshan, the director and Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau; and former party secretary of the bureau Huo Liujun.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was also barring Chen, Zhu, Wang and their immediate families, as well as other unnamed Chinese Communist Party officials, from traveling to the United States.
United Nations experts and activists estimate more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps in the Xinjiang region.
China has denied mistreatment of Uighur Muslims and says the camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.
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