US Imposes Sanctions Highest Ranking Chinese Official Yet Over Violation Of Human Rights Concerning Uighur Muslims

The U.S. imposed sanctions on the highest-ranking Chinese official yet over human rights violations against Uighur Muslims in China. The decision was announced on Thursday, July 9.

As per the new update, Washington has blacklisted Xinjiang region’s Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo along with three other officials. Quanguo has been described as the highest-ranking Chinese official ever sanctioned by the U.S. to date.

The latest announcement concerning the new sanction of Chinese officials is further expected to worsen the brewing animosity between the U.S. and China over a variety of reasons, including the latter’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic to its strengthening control over Hong Kong.

“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,” a senior official from Trump administration said in a press briefing concerning the sanction. He said that blacklisting the Chinese official is “no joke.”

China has constantly denied any allegations concerning the mistreatment of Uighur Muslims in China. It has always maintained its opinion that the camps in China are meant to provide vocational training to them and also intends to fight extremism in the country.

The Chinese embassy in Washington has not released an official statement as yet ever since the announcement was made.

The other three Chinese officials against whom sanction has been imposed include Wang Mingshan, Huo Liujun and Zhu Hailun.

Mingshan is the director and Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau. Hailun is the current deputy secretary of the regional legislative body the Xinjiang’s People’s Congress. Liujun is the former party secretary of the bureau.

The World Uyghur Congress has welcomes the decision taken by the U.S. to impose sanctions on Chinese officials over violation of the human rights of Uighur Muslims. It has also urged other countries, including the European Union, to take similar action.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington is barring the three officials and their family members as well as unnamed members of the Chinese Communist Party from entering the U.S.