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.
Police rescue 60 cats and kittens from abandoned sailboat off Washington beach after 6-day operation
Ex-officer accused in New Orleans mass shooting plot released without charges
Lifelong Lib Chris Matthews Goes Scorched Earth on Far-Left Dems, DSA Members: ‘I’m Not with This Crowd’
Convicted rapist who preyed on women at America’s top party school faces reckoning after courthouse dash
LA Lakers Sold to Ex-Disney CEO and Jared Kushner’s Brother for Record-Breaking Price
Texas judge accused of ‘doxxing’ political critic faces federal lawsuit, growing push to oust him from office
Unearthed interview exposes Dem senator’s past support for reparations: ‘There is a debt unpaid’
Always Watch the Eyes: Video Shows DSA Co-Chair Fall Apart When Asked Exactly Who She Wants to Tax More
DOJ Busts Massive International Sham Marriage Scheme, 1,000 Weddings to ‘Fraudulently Obtain Immigration Status’
ICE eyes $20M purchase of electric shock gloves as Hochul warns of legal consequences
FBI ran secret operation to extinguish Biden family foreign influence scandal: Declassified documents
Fox News Poll: New matchup, same result: Maine Senate race stays locked
Here’s who could replace White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
New York Social Services Worker Charged With Issuing Multiple Benefit Cards to Herself
Hasan Piker cheers Mamdani aide going ‘beast mode’ with ‘impoverish the White middle-class’ remark
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.
Police rescue 60 cats and kittens from abandoned sailboat off Washington beach after 6-day operation
Ex-officer accused in New Orleans mass shooting plot released without charges
Lifelong Lib Chris Matthews Goes Scorched Earth on Far-Left Dems, DSA Members: ‘I’m Not with This Crowd’
Convicted rapist who preyed on women at America’s top party school faces reckoning after courthouse dash
LA Lakers Sold to Ex-Disney CEO and Jared Kushner’s Brother for Record-Breaking Price
Texas judge accused of ‘doxxing’ political critic faces federal lawsuit, growing push to oust him from office
Unearthed interview exposes Dem senator’s past support for reparations: ‘There is a debt unpaid’
Always Watch the Eyes: Video Shows DSA Co-Chair Fall Apart When Asked Exactly Who She Wants to Tax More
DOJ Busts Massive International Sham Marriage Scheme, 1,000 Weddings to ‘Fraudulently Obtain Immigration Status’
ICE eyes $20M purchase of electric shock gloves as Hochul warns of legal consequences
FBI ran secret operation to extinguish Biden family foreign influence scandal: Declassified documents
Fox News Poll: New matchup, same result: Maine Senate race stays locked
Here’s who could replace White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
New York Social Services Worker Charged With Issuing Multiple Benefit Cards to Herself
Hasan Piker cheers Mamdani aide going ‘beast mode’ with ‘impoverish the White middle-class’ remark
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.
