The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to toughen Washington’s position against China regarding its treatment of minority Uighurs, calling on President Donald Trump to apply sanctions against senior Chinese officials.
The Uighur Act of 2019 condemns Beijing’s “gross human rights violations” linked to the crackdown in the western region of Xinjiang, where as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in re-education camps.
The measure, which passed 407 to 1, is a stronger version of the bill that cleared the Senate in September. The two versions must be reconciled into one bill that gets sent to Trump’s desk.
The vote is sure to draw China’s ire. Beijing has already threatened retaliation against Washington for Trump signing legislation last week supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, just as the world’s top two economies edge towards a trade truce.
The latest House measure condemns the mass arbitrary detainment of Uighurs and calls for closure of the re-education camps where they have been held and abused, according to rights groups and US lawmakers.
Trump admin rips Mamdani, local Dems as activists override gov’t move at NYC monument: ‘Focused on theatrics’
WATCH: Bill O’Reilly Thoroughly Debunk the Frequently Cited ‘Only 14% of Illegals Are Violent’ Argument Leftists Use Against Deportation
Minneapolis prosecutors charge few anti-ICE protesters amid mass unrest
See It: Ultra High-Res Image of Bondi’s Notes Shows Deadly Dirt on Dems She Walked Into Hearing Ready to Use if Necessary
ICE director stands his ground after Swalwell blowup, says Democrats are ‘misleading their constituents’
Fani Willis slams $17 million legal fees demand from Trump and former codefendants
Fetterman bucks Democrats, says party put politics over country in DHS shutdown standoff
Trump DOJ files new lawsuit accusing Harvard of withholding records on race in admissions
Prominent Ex-Obama Lawyer Signed Epstein Emails with ‘xoxo’ Amid Vulgar Jokes
Watch: US Olympian’s 1st-Place Finish Overturned After Judges Review the Tape
New Jersey teacher who slept with students at family bagel shop learns prison sentence
Democrats push ‘unconstitutional power grab’ that could flip GOP seats and more top headlines
DHS shutdown explained: Who works without pay, what happens to airports and disaster response
Trump’s $12B rare earth plan targets China as experts warn US is ‘one crisis away’
Democrats launch Lunar New Year ad blitz to counter Trump inroads with Asian Americans
The bill notably urges Trump to slap sanctions on Chinese officials behind the Uighur policy, including Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party chief for Xinjiang.
“Today the human dignity and human rights of the Uighur community are under threat from Beijing’s barbarous actions, which are an outrage to the collective conscience of the world,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her colleagues shortly before the vote.
Congress “is taking a critical step to counter Beijing’s horrific human rights abuses against Uighurs,” she said.
“America is watching.”
Pelosi lashed out at Chinese authorities for orchestrating a repressive crackdown that includes pervasive mass state surveillance, solitary confinement, beatings, forced sterilization “and other forms of torture.”
Rights groups and witnesses accuse China of forcibly trying to draw Uighurs away from their Islamic customs and integrate them into the majority Han culture.
After initially denying their existence, Beijing now defends the camps, which it calls “vocational education centers,” as a necessary measure to counter religious extremism and terrorism.
Trump admin rips Mamdani, local Dems as activists override gov’t move at NYC monument: ‘Focused on theatrics’
WATCH: Bill O’Reilly Thoroughly Debunk the Frequently Cited ‘Only 14% of Illegals Are Violent’ Argument Leftists Use Against Deportation
Minneapolis prosecutors charge few anti-ICE protesters amid mass unrest
See It: Ultra High-Res Image of Bondi’s Notes Shows Deadly Dirt on Dems She Walked Into Hearing Ready to Use if Necessary
ICE director stands his ground after Swalwell blowup, says Democrats are ‘misleading their constituents’
Fani Willis slams $17 million legal fees demand from Trump and former codefendants
Fetterman bucks Democrats, says party put politics over country in DHS shutdown standoff
Trump DOJ files new lawsuit accusing Harvard of withholding records on race in admissions
Prominent Ex-Obama Lawyer Signed Epstein Emails with ‘xoxo’ Amid Vulgar Jokes
Watch: US Olympian’s 1st-Place Finish Overturned After Judges Review the Tape
New Jersey teacher who slept with students at family bagel shop learns prison sentence
Democrats push ‘unconstitutional power grab’ that could flip GOP seats and more top headlines
DHS shutdown explained: Who works without pay, what happens to airports and disaster response
Trump’s $12B rare earth plan targets China as experts warn US is ‘one crisis away’
Democrats launch Lunar New Year ad blitz to counter Trump inroads with Asian Americans
The House bill would require the State Department to produce a report within one year on the crackdown in Xinjiang.
And it would require the Commerce Department to ban US exports to entities in Xinjiang that are known to be used in the detention or surveillance of Muslim minorities, including facial recognition technology.
Republican Marco Rubio, a sponsor of the legislation in the US Senate, warned that China’s government and Communist Party “is working to systematically wipe out the ethnic and cultural identities” of Uighurs.
He applauded the House passage and said he looked forward to getting a reconciled bill to Trump’s desk.
Story cited here.
