Beijing – China said on Monday it will bar US Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Representative Chris Smith and Religious Liberty Ambassador Sam Brownback for their criticism of the ruling Communist Party. policies towards minority groups and people of faith.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said the US actions had “seriously damaged relations between China and the United States” and that China was determined to defend its national sovereignty against what it considers to be interference in its internal affairs. .
“China will respond more according to the development of the situation,” Hua said.
There was no indication that any of the four had plans to travel to China.
The travel bans appear to be direct retaliation for the United States’ imposition of sanctions on four Chinese officials, including Chen Quanguo, who heads the northwest region of Xinjiang, where more than 1 million members of Muslim minority groups have been jailed. in what China calls radicalization and recycling centers.
Critics have he compared the fields to the prisons to which inmates are sentenced with little due process and where they are forced to denounce their religion, language and culture and swear allegiance to the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping.
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An Associated Press investigation also uncovered allegations that women from Xinjiang’s predominantly native Uighur ethnic group were forced to use contraception or undergo involuntary sterilizations.
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