A senior US official says the United States would pursue sanctions on Chinese officials involved in a sweeping security crackdown in the western region of Xinjiang if they were deemed appropriate for designation under a law targeting human rights offenders.
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Laura Stone said today that the US was deeply concerned about China's detention of at least "tens of thousands" of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims and could take action under the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act.
Beijing has defended its crackdown as a "People's War on Terror." The programme has swept up countless people without legal due process, including relatives of American citizens.
US lawmakers raised the possibility of Magnitsky Act sanctions in April, signaling growing alarm in Washington over human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
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