WASHINGTON/BEIJING • The US has imposed sanctions on the highest-ranking Chinese official yet targeted over alleged human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim minority, a move likely to further ratchet up tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The US blacklisted Xinjiang region's Communist Party secretary Chen Quanguo, a member of China's powerful Politburo, and three other officials on Thursday.
China hit back yesterday, saying it will impose tit-for-tat measures on US institutions and individuals who "behave badly" on Xinjiang-related issues.
The highly anticipated action followed months of US hostility towards China over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak and its tightening grip on Hong Kong.
A senior administration official said Mr Chen was the highest ranking Chinese official ever sanctioned by the United States, adding that it was "no joke... Not only in terms of symbolic and reputational effect, but it does have real meaning on a person's ability to move around the world and conduct business".
China has denied mistreating Uighur Muslims. It says the camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.
The sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the government to target human rights violators worldwide by freezing any US assets, banning US travel and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.
Others sanctioned were Mr Zhu Hailun, a former deputy party secretary and current deputy secretary of regional legislative body, the Xinjiang's People's Congress; Mr Wang Mingshan, the director and Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau; and former party secretary of the bureau Huo Liujun.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was also barring Mr Chen, Mr Zhu, Mr Wang and their immediate families, as well as other unnamed Chinese Communist Party officials, from travelling to the US.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said yesterday: "The US actions seriously interfere in China's internal affairs, seriously violate the basic norms of international relations, and seriously damage China-US relations." He did not give details about the Chinese sanctions.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
