China hits back with sanctions over US' Tibet, Xinjiang moves

BEIJING • China has blacklisted four members of a United States federal commission on religious freedom in the latest tit-for-tat response to Washington's own sanctions targeting alleged perpetrators of "genocide" in Xinjiang.

The move came as Beijing also hit out at the US for appointing a new special coordinator for Tibet and blasted global powers over their criticism of local elections in Hong Kong that vetted out the opposition.

China's treatment of Tibetans, Muslim-minority Uighurs in Xinjiang and an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong have contributed to worsening diplomatic relations between Western powers and the Beijing government.

The Xinjiang issue in particular has prompted Washington to slap sanctions on a growing list of Chinese politicians and companies as well as a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, sparking fury in China and reciprocal measures.

China's foreign ministry yesterday announced the latest targets - four members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). They are chairman Nadine Maenza, vice-chairman Nury Turkel, as well as commissioners Anurima Bhargava and James Carr.

"These countermeasures include the prohibition of the above-mentioned persons from entering China and the freezing of their assets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau," spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.

"Chinese citizens and institutions are also prohibited from dealing with these people."

Set up in 1998, USCIRF is a federal commission that surveys religious freedom around the world and has been a vocal critic of China's treatment of Uighur Muslims, a rare bipartisan issue in polarised Washington.

The announcement came days after the US unleashed a volley of new actions over Xinjiang that included a ban on virtually all imports from the region - a major global cotton producer - over allegations of forced labour.

It has also recently blacklisted Chinese companies such as drone maker DJI and artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime over their alleged work with the authorities in Xinjiang.

China's previous reciprocal sanctions have included European, British and American lawmakers, academics who study Xinjiang and a London law firm.

Rights campaigners say that at least one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in camps in China's north-western Xinjiang region after a series of bloody attacks.

Human rights groups and foreign governments have found evidence of what they say to be mass detentions, forced labour, political indoctrination, torture and forced sterilisation. Washington has described it as genocide.

After initially denying the existence of the Xinjiang camps, China later defended them as vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.

On Monday, the US named Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya the new special coordinator for Tibetan issues. She will be tasked with restarting dialogue between the exiled Dalai Lama and China, as well as promoting "respect for the human rights" of Tibetans.

Mr Zhao said China was "firmly opposed" to the move. "Tibet affairs are purely China's internal affairs and brook no interference from any foreign forces," he said yesterday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE