US Uyghur bill slammed
▶ States of relevant lawmakers could be targeted: experts
China will take strong countermeasures against a US bill, including releasing an “unreliable entity list” that includes relevant US entities, and imposing sanctions on relevant US officials, experts said, after the US House passed an act filled with groundless accusations against China’s policy in Xinjiang Tuesday night, local time.
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 smeared China’s counter-terrorism efforts in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and used fabricated information to slander the vocational education and training centers and religious freedom in the region, analysts said.
Chinese government institutions voiced strong opposition on Wednesday against the US move of pushing forward the act, condemning the US of interfering in China’s domestic issues.
The act uses the old US rhetoric that applies double standards to distort China’s policies on Xinjiang, and it never mentioned the impressive social and economic development that Xinjiang has achieved in recent years.
Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times that this act doesn’t have any review process. The sources of the act are untenable and unreliable.
Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times that in addition to conveying the truth to the international community, China can adopt the unreliable entity list to sanction “those companies that implemented the act.”
“The act shows how US government grossly interfered into China’s internal affairs. It’s a serious violation of international law and fundamental principles of international relations. It is also a provocation against the Chinese people,” Wei Jianguo, a former Chinese vice minister of commerce and executive deputy director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times.
“China will hit back with stronger countermeasures,” Wei said. He hinted that the countermeasures could be even stronger than what China had taken after the US passed the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.
Wei said China can sanction certain US entities and personnel with the unreliable entity list and restrict their entry to and activities in China.
Diao told the Global Times the US hastily pushed the act shortly after Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act because congressmen believe it would be easier to get the new act passed.
Generally speaking, the US House was quite busy in the first half of the year. If the lawmakers don’t push it now, they may need to wait until April 2020. “So they want to fight a quick battle. Some congressmen also think the act is easy to pass under the current situation of pressuring China,” Diao said.
The act criticized medical facilities at the vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang. Global Times reporters who have visited the centers many times since 2018 saw that the centers are equipped with complete medical devices, with doctors who can provide free medical services to the trainees around the clock. In circumstance of seriously ill, trainees can be transferred to the local hospital.
The act is also a typical show of double standards. It accused China of using advanced technology for surveillance across the region. But the adoption of modern technology and big data to improve social governance is common in the international community.
“I think the US is the last country that has the right to criticize China in tech security. The US itself uses high technology to monitor people, and the US commits very serious crimes by doing it illegally,” Erkin Oncan, a Turkish journalist, told the Global Times.
“China’s surveillance system is based on security, but the US version is based on the citizens’ privacy. They [the US authorities] watch secretly, categorize them and even sell them to companies which are working on matters like the elections.”
Countermeasures
China can adopt countermeasures at the judiciary level. “We should make our stance clear through the anti-secession law and counter-terrorism law. We are a sovereign country and have our own laws. We can conduct a counter-investigation into the US,” Wei said.
He suggested China not only restrict the entry of congressmen who endorsed the laws, but also conduct countermeasures, in Wei’s own words “a precise strike” against the states these lawmakers represent, including restricting the states’ trade activities with China.
“We can also restrict and prohibit [the export] of some special commodities that the US needs, including rare earths as far as the WTO permits. We can also impose restrictions on the US in terms of China’s current opening-up policies, especially in the financial, service, agriculture, insurance and manufacturing industries,” Wei said.
While the act threatens to sanction certain Chinese senior officials and restrict exports of certain items, Diao said that they cannot be realistically implemented, and any rational government will not implement it. “The US tactic is to place national law above international law. We should also think about coming up with our own agenda,” he said.