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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
In a press conference held Tuesday by spokesperson Zhao Lijian of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, sanctions have been imposed by the Chinese government against several US officials related to the Xinjiang issue. All four officials are members of the United States’ Commission on International Religious Freedom, with the sanctions targeting chairwoman Nadine Maenza, vice chairman Nury Turkel and commissioners Anurima Bhargava and James W. Carr, reports a statement of the said commission.
These sanctions prohibit the concerned officials from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, and prohibit Chinese citizens or institutions from doing business with these officials. All assets of theirs in China are to be frozen, said Zhao in the previously mentioned press conference.
Zhao followed by saying that “Xinjiang affairs are purely China’s internal affairs and [that] the US has no right and is in no position to interfere”, marking China’s position on the US’ concern for the status of human rights in Xinjiang Province. In a statement regarding these sanctions, Nury Turkel said that “The Chinese government’s so-called sanctions are an act of desperation because the international community is standing up against its genocidal policies”.
The US Treasury had imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on December 10, which Zhao described as “illegal” and being an action that “interferes in China’s internal affairs”. The US also announced on December 6 a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
The Uyghur minority faces severe human rights abuses in the northern province of Xinjiang, with reports of mass detentions, forced abortions and other crimes being attributed as being the doing of Chinese authorities.