Beijing: China expressed strong anger and condemnation after the United States House of Representatives passed a Bill in the name of protecting human rights in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region.
A total of five central organs – including the Foreign Ministry, the country’s top legislative and political advisory bodies and the national anti-terrorism leading group office – expressed resolute opposition to passage of the act by the US House.
They said on Wednesday that the act is packed with groundless accusations and with the real intention of sabotaging the stability of Xinjiang and curbing China’s development.
The regional government of Xinjiang and the regional legislative and political advisory bodies said the Bill greatly hurts the feelings of the Xinjiang people and sends a serious false signal to terrorist forces.
Vice-Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Wednesday summoned William Klein, a senior official at the US embassy in China, to lodge stern representations and protests against the act, urging Washington to stop interfering in China’s domestic affairs.
Qin called on the US to immediately correct its mistake, abandon double standards on anti-terrorism issues, prevent the Bill from becoming law and stop using Xinjiang as a way to interfere in China’s domestic affairs.
He said China will respond further according to the development of the situation.
The Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 was initially submitted to the US Senate by Sen Marco Rubio on Jan 17. Despite China’s strong opposition, the act was passed in the Senate on Sept 11.
According to the Bill published on a US congressional website, the act’s purpose is to direct US resources to address what it calls gross violations of human rights in Xinjiang.
The House version of the Bill underwent several amendments, including adding clauses on imposing sanctions on certain Chinese officials and restrictions on some technology exports.
The Senate and the House will discuss and attempt to come up with a unified version before sending the Bill to US President Donald Trump, who could sign it into law, let it become law without his signature or veto it.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, said in a statement that the act is packed with vicious attacks on the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
“It has distorted and smeared China’s efforts in fighting extremism and terrorism, ” it said.
“Also, it launches groundless accusations against China’s Xinjiang policies.” — China Daily/ANN
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