Chinese sanctions hit more officials
BEIJING — China on Saturday announced new sanctions against U.S. and Canadian officials in a growing political and economic feud over its policies in the traditionally Muslim region of Xinjiang.
A statement from the Foreign Ministry said the head of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Gayle Manchin, would be barred from visiting mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao, and from having any dealings with Chinese financial entities.
The commission’s vice chairman, Tony Perkins, was also included on the sanctions list, along with Canadian Parliament member Michael Chong and the body’s Subcommittee on International Human Rights.
China has strongly rejected accusations of human-rights abuses in Xinjiang and has called for boycotts and other punishments against foreign companies including Nike and retailer H&M. The country also has unveiled sanctions against foreign government officials and activists whom it says are spreading false information about its policies toward Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang.
“They must stop political manipulation on Xinjiang-related issues, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs in any form and refrain from going further down the wrong path. Otherwise, they will get their fingers burnt,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.
China announced sanctions Friday against British officials, and H&M products were dropped from Chinese websites over the company’s opposition to buying cotton from Xinjiang. The ruling Communist Party’s Youth League on Wednesday launched attacks on H&M after the European Union’s decision to join the United States, Britain and Canada in imposing sanctions on Chinese officials blamed for abuses in Xinjiang.
More than 1 million members of the Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities have been confined to detention camps in Xinjiang, according to foreign governments and researchers. Authorities there are accused of imposing forced labor and coercive birth control measures.
The Chinese government rejects complaints of abuses and says the camps are for job training to support economic development and combat Islamic radicalism.