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.
Anti-ICE Church Harasser Posted Profane, Ranting Video Before Arrest, Called to ‘Shut This Country Down’
Minnesota school board member Chauntyll Allen ripped by state lawmaker after anti-ICE church invasion arrest
ACLU seeks reinstated constraints on federal officers in Minnesota after Alex Pretti shooting
Narratives clash after Trump and victim’s family react to second Minneapolis ICE shooting
Neonatal Nurse Pleads No Contest to 9 Charges of Abusing Infants – Will Serve Disgraceful Sentence Despite Damning Video Evidence
Trump hails ‘great and very brave’ UK soldiers after slamming NATO allies’ Afghanistan service
Lutnick Rips Globalist Elites Straight to Their Faces for Pillaging the American Dream
European leaders insist ‘shifting international order’ is inevitable while holding out hope instability will pass
CNN Analyst: Even Most Democrat Voters Hate the Democratic Party
Gambling industry bankrolls members of Congress who push pro-gambling legislation
Judge blocks Trump admin from ‘destroying or altering’ evidence in deadly Minneapolis shooting
New Democratic group pushes fresh faces as party’s brand sinks to historic lows
GOP Sen. Cassidy breaks with Trump over deadly shooting by Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis
Video Appears to Show Man Shot By ICE Assault Woman, Instigate Violence, Resist Arrest
DHS says illegal immigrant accused of throwing rock at New Jersey school bus, injuring young girl
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.
Anti-ICE Church Harasser Posted Profane, Ranting Video Before Arrest, Called to ‘Shut This Country Down’
Minnesota school board member Chauntyll Allen ripped by state lawmaker after anti-ICE church invasion arrest
ACLU seeks reinstated constraints on federal officers in Minnesota after Alex Pretti shooting
Narratives clash after Trump and victim’s family react to second Minneapolis ICE shooting
Neonatal Nurse Pleads No Contest to 9 Charges of Abusing Infants – Will Serve Disgraceful Sentence Despite Damning Video Evidence
Trump hails ‘great and very brave’ UK soldiers after slamming NATO allies’ Afghanistan service
Lutnick Rips Globalist Elites Straight to Their Faces for Pillaging the American Dream
European leaders insist ‘shifting international order’ is inevitable while holding out hope instability will pass
CNN Analyst: Even Most Democrat Voters Hate the Democratic Party
Gambling industry bankrolls members of Congress who push pro-gambling legislation
Judge blocks Trump admin from ‘destroying or altering’ evidence in deadly Minneapolis shooting
New Democratic group pushes fresh faces as party’s brand sinks to historic lows
GOP Sen. Cassidy breaks with Trump over deadly shooting by Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis
Video Appears to Show Man Shot By ICE Assault Woman, Instigate Violence, Resist Arrest
DHS says illegal immigrant accused of throwing rock at New Jersey school bus, injuring young girl
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.
