China on Monday announced sanctions against a number of US officials, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in retaliation for legislation aimed at punishing senior Chinese officials for Beijing’s alleged treatment of minority Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, according to multiple reports.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said sanctions against US officials would begin on Monday. The Republican senators, both prominent China critics, were listed by Hua as targets of the “corresponding sanctions.”
Others include the released ambassador for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback, U.S. Representative Chris Smith and the Congressional Executive Commission on China, which oversees human rights and reports annually to President Trump and Congress, according to Reuters.
ADMINISTRATION OF TRUMP CHINESE OFFICIAL SANCTIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST IYGHUR MUSLIMS
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) arrives for a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing for Representative John Ratcliffe (R-TX), on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, May 5, 2020. Andrew Harnik / Pool via REUTERS – RC2EIG91O6GI
“The actions of the United States seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs, seriously violate the basic norms of international relations and seriously damage Sino-US relations,” Hua told reporters during a daily briefing. “China will respond more depending on how the situation unfolds.”
It is unclear what the new sanctions will entail against US officials.
The measures come just days after Washington sanctioned a Communist Party secretary and other Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region.
“The United States will not stand idly by like the CCP [Chinese Community Party] carries out human rights abuses against Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, to include forced labor, arbitrary mass detention and forced population control, and attempts to erase their culture and Muslim faith, “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement announcing State Department sanctions.
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The sanctions were targeted at three senior officials in Xinjiang, rendering them and their family members ineligible to enter the US Pompeo said additional visa restrictions were being imposed on other officials believed to be involved or they are responsible for abuses against minorities.
UN experts have said that at least one million Uighurs and other Muslims are detained in detention centers in Xinjiang, according to Reuters. China, which initially denied the camps existed, calls them training centers aimed at eradicating terrorism and extremism, as well as providing people with new skills. Detainees are allegedly subjected to forced labor, forced abortion, sterilization, and other abuses.
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The U.S. movements and China’s response were said to be largely symbolic because officials likely don’t have much financial or legal contact with each other’s countries, Bloomberg reported.
Adam Shaw and The Associated Press of Fox News contributed to this report.
