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.
Breaking: OJ Simpson Witness and LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman Dead at 74
Report: Immigrants Are Voluntarily Leaving US in Record Numbers Under Trump
DC Bar lawyer withdraws from Ed Martin disciplinary case after partisan posts surface
Hegseth unleashes on Massie in GOP primary showdown against Trump-backed Navy SEAL vet
Senate Republicans confirm nearly 50 of Trump’s picks for energy, land management
WATCH: Mamdani bashed for going ‘full deranged marxist’ with rip on famous Ronald Reagan line
Breaking: 2 Shooters at California Islamic Center Neutralized – Multiple Causalities Confirmed
Trump Sends First of Its Kind Message to ‘Rededicate 250’ Attendees Who Flooded the National Mall to Recommit America to God
Skid Row election scheme allegedly fueled by pocket-change payoffs busted by Trump DOJ
Report: Chinese propaganda, Singham network, foreign dark money linked to campaigns against data centers
Active shooter reported at San Diego Islamic center as SWAT, emergency crews respond
Apologies and cash headed to alleged ‘weaponization’ victims in billion-dollar Trump settlement
Breaking: Jury Sides Against Musk in OpenAI Lawsuit
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’
Video: AOC Wheels Out Political Prop We’ve Never Seen Before – A Bulletproof Barrier, But There’s a Giant Problem
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.
Breaking: OJ Simpson Witness and LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman Dead at 74
Report: Immigrants Are Voluntarily Leaving US in Record Numbers Under Trump
DC Bar lawyer withdraws from Ed Martin disciplinary case after partisan posts surface
Hegseth unleashes on Massie in GOP primary showdown against Trump-backed Navy SEAL vet
Senate Republicans confirm nearly 50 of Trump’s picks for energy, land management
WATCH: Mamdani bashed for going ‘full deranged marxist’ with rip on famous Ronald Reagan line
Breaking: 2 Shooters at California Islamic Center Neutralized – Multiple Causalities Confirmed
Trump Sends First of Its Kind Message to ‘Rededicate 250’ Attendees Who Flooded the National Mall to Recommit America to God
Skid Row election scheme allegedly fueled by pocket-change payoffs busted by Trump DOJ
Report: Chinese propaganda, Singham network, foreign dark money linked to campaigns against data centers
Active shooter reported at San Diego Islamic center as SWAT, emergency crews respond
Apologies and cash headed to alleged ‘weaponization’ victims in billion-dollar Trump settlement
Breaking: Jury Sides Against Musk in OpenAI Lawsuit
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’
Video: AOC Wheels Out Political Prop We’ve Never Seen Before – A Bulletproof Barrier, But There’s a Giant Problem
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.
