Donald Trump says he held off sanctions on China over Uighur Muslims due to trade talks

US President Donald Trump said that trade talks with Beijing were the primary reason for not imposing tougher sanctions on Chinese officials accused of a crackdown on Uighur Muslims. In an interview with online news portal Axios, Trump said that tougher sanctions would have interfered with negotiations with China as the two countries were in the middle of a “major trade deal”.

Under the ‘phase one’ trade deal, China had agreed to massive purchases of agricultural product, energy, and manufactured goods, among others. According to the US trade representatives, the United States will be maintaining 25 per cent tariffs on approximately $250 billion of Chinese imports, along with 7.5 per cent tariffs on approximately $120 billion of Chinese imports.

'Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020'

On June 17, Trump signed “Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020” into law which condemns gross human rights violations of the ethnic Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang region in China. It is aimed at holding accountable perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses such as the systematic use of indoctrination camps, forced labour, and intrusive surveillance to eradicate the ethnic identity and religious beliefs of Uighurs and other minorities in China.

The bill, introduced by Senator Marco Rubio, calls for sanctions against those involved in the oppression of Uighur Muslims. Calling China’s alleged effort to wipe out the ethnic identities of Uighurs “horrific”, Rubio had said that it will be a stain on humanity if the US refuses to act. However, Trump released a statement saying he holds the discretion to decide on the measures against such perpetrators.

Several leaked from China have revealed Beijing’s brutal and systematic crackdown on Uighurs which they allegedly call “struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism”. After Uighur militants stabbed more than 150 people at a train station in 2014, Jinping, in a series of speeches delivered to officials, urged the party to follow America’s policy of “war on terror”.

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