WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Monday sanctioned two Chinese officials for their role in serious human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
Chinese Wang Junzheng, secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Party Committee, and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, were sanctioned for their connection to “arbitrary detention and serious physical abuse, among other serious human rights abuses “targeted at Uyghurs,” the Treasury Department said Monday in a statement.
Treasury accused China of using repressive tactics over the past five years against Uighurs and other members of ethnic minorities in the region, including mass arrests and surveillance.
“The targets of this surveillance are often stopped and are supposed to be subjected to various methods of torture and‘ political re-education, ’” Treasury wrote in a statement.
Beijing has previously denied U.S. allegations of genocide against Uyghurs, an indigenous Muslim population in the Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in northwest China.
“Amid growing international condemnation, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “We will continue to defend our allies around the world by calling for an immediate end to the PRC’s crimes and justice for many victims,” the nation’s top diplomat added.
The sanctions of the Biden administration complement the actions taken today also by the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada.
China has also said allegations about its use in detention camps are unfounded and instead use facilities to provide vocational training to help eliminate Islamist extremism and separatism.
The sanctions come after a disputed meeting between Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and State Councilor Wang Yi in Alaska.
Prior to the talks, Blinken spoke out against the radical use of China’s “coercion and aggression” on the international stage and warned that the United States would back down if necessary.
“China uses coercion and aggression to systematically erode autonomy in Hong Kong, undermine democracy in Taiwan, abuse human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and assert maritime claims in the South China Sea that violate international law Blinken told a news conference in Japan.
President Joe Biden, who spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, previously said his approach to China would be different from that of his predecessor, as he would work more closely with allies in order to retreat against Beijing.
“We will face China’s economic abuses,” Biden said in a speech to the State Department, which described Beijing as America’s “most serious competitor”.
“But we are also prepared to work with Beijing when it does so in the interest of the United States. We will compete from a position of strength, recovering better at home and working with our allies and partners.”