USA imposes further sanctions against China
Washington accuses a company and two Chinese politicians of human rights violations. Specifically, it is about the situation of the Uyghurs in China.
The U.S. is expanding its sanctions against China, citing the repression of the Uighur Muslim minority in China's autonomous region of Xinjiang. The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned two Chinese politicians and an institution for their alleged role in violating the human rights of the Uyghurs.
The U.S. is determined to "use the full range of fiscal options" to prosecute those who violate human rights, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
"The Chinese Communist Party's human rights abuses in Xinjiang against the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities rank as the stain of the century," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. China rejects the U.S. accusations. Washington first imposed sanctions in early July because of the situation in Xinjiang. The estimated ten million Uighurs in China are ethnically related to Turks. Beijing accuses Islamist Uyghur groups of terrorism.
The new sanctions target a Communist Party paramilitary organization, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Company (XPCC), as well as a former and a current leader of the group, Sun Jinlong and Peng Jiarui, according to U.S. reports. The two would now not be allowed to enter the U.S., it said. Possible property of the sanctioned individuals and the institution in the U.S. is frozen by the punitive measures. In addition, Americans and U.S. companies are no longer allowed to do business with them.