A broad group of US lawmakers on Wednesday called for sanctions against China’s top official in the Xinjiang region over alleged abuses — including mass detentions — against the Uighur minority.
The letter signed by 24 senators — almost one-quarter ofthe body — and 19 House members across party lines also called on the UnitedStates to step up disclosure requirements about Chinese companies held to becomplicit in rights violations.
The lawmakers asked President Donald Trump’s administrationto target Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party secretary in the northwesternXinjiang region, who earlier held a similar position in Tibet and has becomereputed for his handling of minorities.
UN investigators say that some one million people have beenrounded up in Xinjiang in a massive network of cramped detention camps, withChina pressing Uighurs to renounce Islam through actions such as forcing themto eat pork, which is forbidden for Muslims.
“We are disappointed with the administration’s failureso far to impose any sanctions related to the ongoing systemic and egregioushuman rights abuses in Xinjiang,” said the letter addressed to Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo and other top officials.
The lawmakers acknowledged the “strong rhetoric”from Vice President Mike Pence and others but added, “words alone are notenough.”
The letter was signed by Senators Marco Rubio, a FloridaRepublican close to Trump on foreign policy, and Bob Menendez, the top Democraton the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Others who signed it include Senator Elizabeth Warren, aDemocratic presidential candidate, Senator Mitt Romney, a former Republicanpresidential contender, and Representatives James McGovern and Chris Smith, whohead a congressional commission on human rights.
The lawmakers asked the Trump administration to invoke theMagnitsky Act on Chen and other top officials in Xinjiang.
The act — named after a Russian accountant who died indetention — calls for the seizure of assets and a ban on US visits by anyforeign official found to be behind human rights abuses.
China denies the accounts of mass detention, saying it isrunning educational training centers as part of a fight against Islamicextremism in Xinjiang.