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.
‘House’ Star Hugh Laurie Blasted by Left After Standing with Sophie Cunningham and Her Fight to Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports
No Death Penalty: Tyler Robinson’s Attorneys Launch Plan to Keep Charlie Kirk’s Accused Murderer Off Death Row – and It Could Work
Mark Lynch endorses Ralph Norman as congressman heads into runoff against Darline Graham
Newsom-appointed judge who freed migrant before fatal stabbing said justice ‘sometimes means a dismissal’
Will Ferrell’s ‘The Hawk’ is unfunny and uninspired
Vincent Pastore, 1946-2026
Mexican national faces federal charges after CBP finds $238K in fentanyl inside electric moped
NYPD cop found guilty of chokehold in first conviction since restraint tactic banned after George Floyd death
Detransitioners reveal how doctors pushed them toward life-altering treatment as teens
White House exposes ‘Transshipment Scam’ costing US up to $26B, points finger at China
Live bullet found aboard United flight forces passengers off plane for security sweep at Denver airport
Woke Colorado School District Teaches 5-Year-Olds Sexual Anatomy Using Images So Bad We Refuse to Post Them – By Age 7, It Gets Far Worse
Marco Rubio gets 68 new jobs in epic White House birthday gift inspired by viral meme
Watch: Bystander Appears to Capture New B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Flying Low Over Wichita
HHS warns Texas hospitals against denying life-saving care to newborn with disability
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.
‘House’ Star Hugh Laurie Blasted by Left After Standing with Sophie Cunningham and Her Fight to Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports
No Death Penalty: Tyler Robinson’s Attorneys Launch Plan to Keep Charlie Kirk’s Accused Murderer Off Death Row – and It Could Work
Mark Lynch endorses Ralph Norman as congressman heads into runoff against Darline Graham
Newsom-appointed judge who freed migrant before fatal stabbing said justice ‘sometimes means a dismissal’
Will Ferrell’s ‘The Hawk’ is unfunny and uninspired
Vincent Pastore, 1946-2026
Mexican national faces federal charges after CBP finds $238K in fentanyl inside electric moped
NYPD cop found guilty of chokehold in first conviction since restraint tactic banned after George Floyd death
Detransitioners reveal how doctors pushed them toward life-altering treatment as teens
White House exposes ‘Transshipment Scam’ costing US up to $26B, points finger at China
Live bullet found aboard United flight forces passengers off plane for security sweep at Denver airport
Woke Colorado School District Teaches 5-Year-Olds Sexual Anatomy Using Images So Bad We Refuse to Post Them – By Age 7, It Gets Far Worse
Marco Rubio gets 68 new jobs in epic White House birthday gift inspired by viral meme
Watch: Bystander Appears to Capture New B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Flying Low Over Wichita
HHS warns Texas hospitals against denying life-saving care to newborn with disability
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.
