US mocked over Uygur bill
Act plunges ties, may trigger sanctions: expert
Chinese and overseas experts and residents of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region firmly opposed the US Senate passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which accuses China of detaining Muslims and threatens to impose sanctions. They said that instead of clearing its own mess of failing to control the COVID-19, US politicians are eager to push anti-China acts. The US is pushing the Uygur bill at a worst moment when the China-US ties are at low ebb and leave little room for mistakes. And it may cause a more destructive result to bilateral ties.
The Senate on Thursday afternoon approved the Uygur human rights bill to sanction Chinese government officials responsible for “forced labor camps” in Xinjiang and “recommends a tougher response to the human rights abuses,” CNN reported on Thursday.
This is the US’ latest shot at China as US President Donald Trump, officials and politicians have accused China for the COVID-19 pandemic and are seeking opportunities to put pressure on China in many fields.
US politicians choosing to speed up passage of the bill at this time also shows they don’t care about people in Xinjiang – their purpose has always been and will always be to serve US policies against China, said Qian Jinyu, executive dean of the Human Rights Institution of Northwest University of Political Science and Law.
Muhammad Zamir Assadi, a journalist from Independent News Pakistan, told the Global Times that “the international community knows the enemy of mankind is the virus. But unfortunately, the US is still trying to destabilize this unity by using the noble excuse of saving humanity.”
Pressuring China
China will hold its most important political events – the plenary session of the National People’s Congress and the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – starting May 21, and experts said the Senate bill is also aimed at disturbing China.
Zhu Ying, deputy director of the Human Rights Institute at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, said that to help the Trump administration’s recent China-blame farce, the Republicans would do everything to push for more anti-China bills. This includes the Tibet bill, Taipei act and the China sanction bill over COVID-19.
Predrag Markovic, director of the Institute for Contemporary History in Serbia and vice president of the Socialist Party of Serbia, said the most recent Uygur bill is only part of a broader propaganda offensive against China.
During the 1990s, propaganda “bombs” had been used against Serbia. Then came real bombs and destruction. Fortunately, the scenario will not repeat today. “For benevolent China, such accusations are annoying, just like mosquito bites for a mighty tiger,” Markovic said.
Markovic paid a visit to Xinjiang in September 2019. He told the Global Times that he has seen efforts to turn Xinjiang into a modern and prosperous society.
Senator Marco Rubio, who sponsored the bill, tweeted on Thursday that the bill now “heads to the House which I hope can pass it as soon as tomorrow.”
Wang Jiang, an expert on law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the export restriction mainly targets electronic products for security and protection, including drones and cameras. The US attempted to limit the export of products and technologies used in counter-terrorism to China. But China has developed domestic technologies in these fields. The export restriction is meaningless.
China-US ties are fragile. The passing of the Uygur bill at this time is like adding fuel to the fire, he said.
Countermeasures prepared
Chinese authorities and the Xinjiang regional government have made preparations for US’ interference, including completing the National Security Law and Anti-Terrorism Law and other related laws, offering protection to companies and individuals in Xinjiang that may be affected by the bill, experts said.
Chinese authorities could also take countermeasures to punish US politicians who had been actively pushing anti-China bills in accordance with the National Security Law and Anti-Terrorism Law, including restricting businesses related to them in China, experts said.
Zhu said that the Uygur bill, once enacted, will be the US’ first law that interferes in China’s policies in Xinjiang and severely infringes upon China’s domestic affairs. The US would use it and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, as well as acts on human rights and religion freedoms, to add fuel to trade frictions with China. They may also affect the international cooperation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.