US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned Saturday that China’s sanctions against two Americans who have condemned Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghurs are “unfounded”. In his view, this only puts “genocide” in Xinjiang in the spotlight.
Blinken said in a statement that Beijing’s attempts to intimidate and silence those who speak out about human rights and fundamental freedoms only add to the growing international criticism of genocide and crimes against humanity underway in Xinjiang.
China announced sanctions against two Americans, a Canadian and a human rights organization, in response to sanctions imposed by the two North American countries this week over Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghur minority. Blinken described the sanctions imposed on the two members of the US Committee for International Religious Freedom as “baseless.”
Human rights groups say that at least 1 million Uyghurs and people from other groups, most of them Muslims, are being held in camps in China’s Xinjiang region. They accuse the authorities of forcibly sterilizing women and using forced labor.
The European Union, Britain, Canada and the United States imposed sanctions on prominent political and economic figures in Xinjiang. Then came Beijing with sanctions against individuals from the European Union and Great Britain.
“We stand in solidarity with Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other partners and allies around the world and call on China to end human rights and violations committed against the Muslim majority of Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and ethnic groups. Religious minority groups in Xinjiang,” Blinken said. And the release of arbitrary detainees. “
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