Washington: A US congressional report called for sanctions against China over human rights abuses, and for US officials to keep rights concerns in mind during dealings with Beijing, including trade negotiations. The annual human rights report from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China said human rights and rule of law conditions worsened in China from August 2018 to August 2019, the period studied.
The report detailed what is said was China’s crackdown on religious minorities, labor activists and the press, and focused extensively on treatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang, “where the Commission believes Chinese authorities may be committing crimes against humanity.”
“In addition, the Administration should develop talking points for U.S. Government officials - including those engaged in trade negotiations - that consistently link freedoms of press, speech, and association to U.S. and Chinese interests,” the report released on Wednesday said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the report was neither objective nor credible. The United States should reflect on its own human rights situation and stop smearing China, he said at a daily briefing on Thursday in Beijing.
It was the latest salvo from Washington over China’s human rights record, particularly the treatment of Uighur Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region, where at least a million people have been detained in what is seen by many in the West as a grave abuse of human rights and religious freedom.
Beijing says it is providing vocational training to help stamp out separatism and to teach new skills. It denies any mistreatment of Uighurs.
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