China retaliates, sanctions US officials

Rubio and Cruz among lawmakers barred entry

China announced retaliatory sanctions Monday against U.S. officials and entities, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., after Washington sanctioned senior Chinese officials who it claimed are responsible for mass detentions, religious persecution and forced sterilization against Muslim Uighur minorities in China’s Xinjiang province.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying disclosed the sanctions during a daily briefing. Also sanctioned: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Sam Brownback, a U.S. ambassador for religious freedom; Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.; and the CongressionalExecutive Commission on China, which monitors human rights.

Hua said the sanctions would begin immediately and those penalized would be barred entry to China.

“I guess they don’t like me?” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. In a tweet on Monday responding to retaliatory sanctions imposed by China

Last week, Washington sanctioned a top member of China’s ruling Communist Party and three other officials over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Beijing vowed to strike back for what it claims is inappropriate U.S. meddling in its internal affairs in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“I guess they don’t like me?” Rubio tweeted Monday.

China has repeatedly denied it mistreats Uighur Muslims in far-western Xinjiang, but human rights organizations alleged that authorities detained about a million people in so-called reeducation camps. China said the camps are vocational centers needed to counter radicalism.

According to a new book by John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, when Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 economic summit in Japan last year, he said “Xi should go ahead with building the camps.” Trump thought it was “exactly the right thing to do,” Bolton said.

Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration may make an announcement this week related to escalating tensions in the South China Sea, where Washington and Beijing vie for military supremacy.

U.S.-Chinese relations have deteriorated over the coronavirus pandemic, human rights, trade and Beijing’s policy toward Hong Kong, where it moved to erode the territory’s separate judicial system from mainland China’s.

Beijing and Washington agreed on the first phase of a trade deal. The second part of the agreement stalled amid the heightened tensions.