US legislators to urge China sanctions over East Turkestan crackdown

Proposed bill will urge President Trump to condemn crackdown on Uighurs, press for ban on sale of surveillance technology.
AL JAZEERA
People mingle in the old town of Kashgar in East Turkestan in March last year.

US legislators will introduce legislation on Wednesday urging the Trump administration to respond more strongly to China's crackdown on Uighur Muslims, including possible sanctions.
Te bill will also ask President Donald Trump to condemn China's actions in the East Turkestan colony, call for the appointment of a new "special coordinator" for US policy on the issue, and press for a ban on the export of technology that Beijing could use in surveillance and mass detention of the minority Uighurs, according to a copy seen by Reuters news agency.
The legislators want the government to consider human rights-related sanctions against East Turkestan Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, who is also a member of the powerful politburo, and other officials "credibly alleged to be responsible" for the security crackdown.
"Chinese government officials should be held accountable for their complicity in this evil, and US businesses should be barred from helping China create a hi-tech police state in East Turkestan," said Chris Smith, a Republican representative and one of the sponsors of the bipartisan legislation that will be presented in both the upper and lower houses of Congress.
Trump's senior aides have become more vocal recently in their criticism of China's treatment of its minority Muslims in East Turkestan.
Any decision to impose sanctions, however, would be a rare move on human rights grounds against China, with which the Trump administration is engaged in a bitter trade war.
The White House and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the legislative proposal, which is also being supported by Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.

Global Magnitsky Act
Beijing has dismissed accusations of human rights abuses in East Turkestan and urged the United States and other countries to stay out of its internal affairs.
China's top diplomat said earlier on Tuesday the world should ignore "gossip" about developments in East Turkestan and trust the local authorities when asked if Beijing would allow international observers to inspect camps where Muslims are believed to be held.
Western countries -- including Canada, France, Germany, and the US -- have urged China to shut down the camps in East Turkestan, where as many as one million members of the Uighur minority and other Muslims are being held.
The Trump administration for several months has been considering targeted sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies linked to the crackdown, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The measures could be imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, a law that allows the US government to target human rights violators around the world by freezing any US assets, imposing bans on US travel, and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.
Uighur activists in the US, meanwhile, marked their community's "independence day" with a protest march in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
American-Uighur Aydin Anwar told Al Jazeera that China was attempting to "wipe out" the Uighur identity.
November 12 is the 74th and 85th anniversary of two short-lived Uighur republics which were established in territory that is now part of China.