US lawmakers urge action on ‘crimes against humanity’ in China
WASHINGTON: US lawmakers called for President Donald Trump’s administration to impose sanctions over rights abuses in China as they released a report describing ‘crimes against humanity’ towards the Uighur minority.
In a wide-ranging annual report, the CongressionalExecutive Commission on China, which tracks human rights in the Asian power, voiced alarm at Beijing’s incarceration of more than one million Uighurs and other Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang.
“The Commission believes Chinese authorities may be committing crimes against humanity against the Uighur people and other Turkic Muslims,” it said.
Representative Chris Smith, a member of the commission, pointed to Uighur witnesses who said they were targeted for their Muslim faith.
“We are talking about crimes against humanity on a massive scale,” Smith told a news conference.
“We are talking, with regards to what is being done to the Uighurs, something we have not seen since World War II. And the Chinese government, particularly (President) Xi Jinping, needs to be held accountable for this egregious behavior,” he said.
China’s foreign ministry on Thursday dismissed the commission’s report and accused US lawmakers of making ‘unwarranted accusations against China.’
“This so-called committee is blind from its prejudices,” said spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing in Beijing. “It has no credibility,” he said. Senator Marco Rubio, a close ally of President Donald Trump and co-chair of the commission, vowed that Congress would soon pass an act that seeks sanctions on officials over abuses and restricts exports of surveillance and other equipment seen as assisting in repression in Xinjiang.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives and Republicanled Senate need to reconcile similar acts they approved last year. — AFP