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US House votes for sanctions on Chinese officials over Uighur treatment | US House votes for sanctions on Chinese officials over Uighur treatment |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to counter what it calls the "arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment" of Uighur Muslims in China. | |
The bill calls for "targeted sanctions" on members of the Chinese government - and names the Communist Party secretary in the Xinjiang autonomous region, Chen Quanguo. | |
The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate and President Trump. | The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate and President Trump. |
China's foreign ministry reacted angrily, calling the bill "malicious". | |
The passing of the bill comes days after Mr Trump signed into law a bill that supports pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong - leading to condemnation from China. | |
The Uighur Human Rights Policy Act 2019 bill was passed by 407 to 1 in the House of Representatives on Tuesday night. | |
Republican Thomas Massie, from Kentucky, voted against the bill. He also voted against the Hong Kong bill. | |
What's in the bill? | |
The purpose of the bill is "to address gross violations of universally recognised human rights, including the mass internment of over 1,000,000 Uighurs". | The purpose of the bill is "to address gross violations of universally recognised human rights, including the mass internment of over 1,000,000 Uighurs". |
It also accuses China of "systematically discriminating" against Uighurs by "denying them a range of civil and political rights, including the freedoms of expression, religion, movement and a fair trial". | |
The bill details some of the policies allegedly carried out by China against Muslims in Xinjiang. | |
These include "pervasive, high-tech surveillance, including the collection of... DNA samples from children", and "the use of QR codes outside homes to gather information on how frequently individuals pray". | |
The Uighur bill calls for sanctions on Chinese officials who are "credibly alleged to be responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang". | |
It also names Xinjiang's Communist Party boss Chen Quanguo, who has been dubbed the "architect" of the camps. | |
The bill calls on Mr Trump to "condemn abuses" against the Uighurs, for China to immediately close all the camps, and to "ensure respect for internationally-guaranteed human rights". | |
What was the reaction in China? | |
China's foreign ministry called the bill "malicious" and urged the US to stop "interfering in China's domestic affairs". | |
"The bill deliberately smears the human rights condition in Xinjiang and viciously attacks the Chinese government's Xinjiang policy," said foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. | |
"We urge the US to correct its mistakes at once, prevent this bill from becoming law, and stop using Xinjiang-related issues to interfere China's internal affairs." | |
China also reacted angrily to the Hong Kong bill - suspending visits by US Navy ships and aircraft to Hong Kong, and issuing sanctions against US-based human rights groups. | |
What's going on in Xinjiang? | |
Rights groups say that hundreds of thousands of Muslims are detained in high-security prison camps across Xinjiang. | |
The Chinese authorities say the Uighurs are being educated in "vocational training centres" in order to combat violent religious extremism. | |
But evidence shows many are being detained for simply expressing their faith - for example, praying or wearing a veil - or for having overseas connections to places like Turkey. | |
Records seen by the BBC show China is also deliberately separating Muslim children from their families. | |
This is an attempt to "raise a new generation cut off from original roots, religious beliefs and their own language," Dr Adrian Zenz, a German researcher told BBC News earlier this year. | |
"I believe the evidence points to what we must call cultural genocide." | |
China's ambassador to the UK denied the allegations, saying they were "lies". |