Washington:
The United States stepped up economic pressure on China’s Xinjiang Province on Friday, imposing sanctions on a powerful Chinese company and two officials for what it called human rights violations against Uyghurs and other minorities ethnic.
The move, the latest blow to US-Chinese relations, came a week after US President Donald Trump closed the Chinese consulate in Houston, prompting Beijing to close the US consulate in Chengdu.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had blacklisted the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, also known as XPCC, as well as Sun Jinlong, former party secretary of XPCC, and Peng. Jiarui, deputy party secretary and XPCC commander, on charges they are linked to. serious human rights violations against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
“The human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang, China against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities are the stain of the century,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
China denies the mistreatment of the minority group and says the camps housing large numbers of Uyghurs provide vocational training and are necessary to combat extremism.
Washington’s action freezes all US corporate and government assets; generally prohibits Americans from dealing with them; and prevents Sun Jinlong and Peng Jiarui from traveling to the United States.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the company as “a secret paramilitary organization which performs various functions under the direct control” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“They are directly involved in the implementation of the CCP’s comprehensive surveillance, detention and indoctrination … which we all know is targeting Uyghurs and other members of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang “, said the official.
The Treasury also issued a license, authorizing certain liquidation and divestment operations and certain activities related to the XPCC subsidiaries blocked until September 30.
Washington recently imposed sanctions on the autonomous region of the secretary of the Communist Party of Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo, the top Chinese official targeted, blacklisting the member of the powerful Chinese Politburo and current secretary of the first party of the XPCC, as well as ‘other officials and Xinjiang. Public Security Bureau.
Peter Harrell, former head and sanctions expert at the Center for a New American Security, said from an economic standpoint, Friday’s action was a “substantial escalation” in US pressure and sent a warning to companies involved. in activities in China.
“The Trump administration ultimately took meaningful sanctions … measures against Xinjiang, as opposed to those that were mostly symbolic,” Harrell said.
The XPCC is a quasi-military group created in 1954. It was initially made up of demobilized soldiers who underwent military training while developing farms in the arid lands of the region.
Civilian operatives from eastern China then joined the corps, which now numbers 3.11 million, or more than 12 percent of the region’s population. It is almost entirely made up of Han Chinese in an area that is home to the Uyghur Muslim people.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
