Donald Trump, while signing the law, opposed a technical aspect of the legislation (File)
Washington:
US President Donald Trump signed a law Wednesday authorizing sanctions against Chinese officials for the mass incarceration of Uighur Muslims.
Trump’s announcement came as excerpts from a explosive new book by his former national security adviser, John Bolton, said the president had told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that he approved of the large camps of detention.
Trump was expected to sign the Uighur human rights law, which passed Congress almost unanimously amid widespread outrage over China’s treatment of the minority.
“The law holds perpetrators responsible for human rights violations and abuses such as the systematic use of indoctrination camps, forced labor and intrusive surveillance to eradicate the ethnic identity and religious beliefs of Uyghurs and other minorities in China, “Trump said in a statement.
Legislation obliges the US administration to determine which Chinese officials are responsible for the “arbitrary detention, torture and harassment” of Uighurs and other minorities.
The United States would then freeze all assets held by the authorities in the world‘s largest economy and prohibit their entry into the country.
Trump, while signing the law, opposed a technical aspect of the legislation on his powers as president to end sanctions against individuals.
Activists say China has gathered at least a million Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims and forcibly homogenized them in a brainwashing campaign with few modern precedents.
Beijing retorts that it operates vocational education centers that offer an alternative to Islamic extremism.
According to the Washington Post, Bolton in his next book said that Xi had explained the problem to Trump, who told him that the detention camps were “exactly the right thing to do.”
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
