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.
Former top Oregon GOP official secures nomination for governor as Republicans target blue-state pickup
Trump-backed senator cruises to primary win, setting up potential 4th term
Bob Brooks wins Pennsylvania’s 7th District primary to take on Ryan Mackenzie in general election
Three stabbed at crowded Rhode Island beach as hundreds of teens pack area, police say
Bob Harvie wins Pennsylvania’s 1st District primary to set showdown with Brian Fitzpatrick
Trump ally Tommy Tuberville cruises to Alabama GOP governor nomination
Kentucky physician advances to general election after receiving glowing Trump endorsement: ‘True friend’
Pentagon cuts Brigade Combat Teams in Europe as Trump pressures NATO on spending
Stelson-Perry rematch set in Pennsylvania’s 10th District
Gallup Poll: Americans Would Rather Live Near a Nuclear Power Plant Than an AI Data Center
Breaking: Thomas Massie Loses to Trump-Backed Ed Gallrein in Hotly Contested Primary
Tragic: College Football Player Dead at 22, Coach Says ‘He Will Be Sincerely Missed’
Ketanji Brown Jackson Publicly Trashes All 8 of Her Fellow Supreme Court Justices
Trump admin readies Raul Castro indictment as fatal shootdown case resurfaces: sources
Oklahoma Newspaper Pulls Jewish Writer’s Op-Ed Praising OKC Thunder and Israel for Thriving Against Bigger Rivals
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.
Former top Oregon GOP official secures nomination for governor as Republicans target blue-state pickup
Trump-backed senator cruises to primary win, setting up potential 4th term
Bob Brooks wins Pennsylvania’s 7th District primary to take on Ryan Mackenzie in general election
Three stabbed at crowded Rhode Island beach as hundreds of teens pack area, police say
Bob Harvie wins Pennsylvania’s 1st District primary to set showdown with Brian Fitzpatrick
Trump ally Tommy Tuberville cruises to Alabama GOP governor nomination
Kentucky physician advances to general election after receiving glowing Trump endorsement: ‘True friend’
Pentagon cuts Brigade Combat Teams in Europe as Trump pressures NATO on spending
Stelson-Perry rematch set in Pennsylvania’s 10th District
Gallup Poll: Americans Would Rather Live Near a Nuclear Power Plant Than an AI Data Center
Breaking: Thomas Massie Loses to Trump-Backed Ed Gallrein in Hotly Contested Primary
Tragic: College Football Player Dead at 22, Coach Says ‘He Will Be Sincerely Missed’
Ketanji Brown Jackson Publicly Trashes All 8 of Her Fellow Supreme Court Justices
Trump admin readies Raul Castro indictment as fatal shootdown case resurfaces: sources
Oklahoma Newspaper Pulls Jewish Writer’s Op-Ed Praising OKC Thunder and Israel for Thriving Against Bigger Rivals
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.
