Donald Trump signs bill to punish China for crackdown on Uighurs & other ethnic minorities

Amid sensational claims by ex-National Security Adviser John Bolton in his new book that US President Donald Trump attempted to secure reelection with the help of Chinese president Xi Jinping, Trump signed legislation that seeks to punish China for its crackdown on ethnic minorities. This comes in contrast to the claims made by Bolton as he alleged in his book that Trump in a private conversation agreed to support the brutal campaign of China against Uighur Muslims in return of help for reelection.

In a statement issued Wednesday afternoon, White House said that Trump signed The Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 and said that it “holds accountable perpetrators of 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.” 

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The bill includes sanctions on Chinese officials directly involved in the crackdown. It would impose sanctions on specific Chinese officials, such as the Communist Party official who oversees government policy in Xinjiang.  The legislation requires the U.S. government to report to Congress on the human rights violations in Xinjiang as well as China’s acquisition of technology used for mass detention and surveillance. It also requires American authorities to look into the pervasive reports of harassment and threats of Uighurs and other Chinese nationals in the United States.

China has publicly brushed away criticism of its crackdown in Xinjiang, which it launched in 2014 as the “Strike Hard Against Violent Extremism” campaign in the vast resource-rich territory in the far northwest of the country.

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Uighur activists call it an important step

Meanwhile, Uighur activists see the approval as an important step as it is the first time any government has sought to punish China for a campaign of mass surveillance and detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western Xinjiang region. “Globally this should be a model for other counties who have been very lukewarm in their response to the ongoing atrocities in the Uighur region," said Nury Turkel, a Uighur activist and member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Members of Congress intended the legislation to increase pressure on China over the crackdown in Xinjiang, where authorities have detained more than a million people — from ethnic groups that include Uighurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz — in a vast network of detention centers. Many have been subjected to torture and forced labor and deprived of adequate food and medical treatment.

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The relation between the US and China is already tensed because of trade war and as Donald Trump has blamed Xi JInping's administration for hiding the truth about Coronavirus from the world.  tense relations with China amid the Trump administration's criticism of Beijing's response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The signing came as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was meeting in Hawaii.

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(with AP inputs)