10 July
US President Donald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of involvement in human rights abuses against Uighurs.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Thursday that three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party and their family members are now barred from entering the United States.
The sanctioned officials include the Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Chen Quanguo, as well as the top security official in the region.
Chen is a member of the party's 25-member Politburo, which includes Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Pompeo said the three officials had been involved in gross violations of human rights, such as arbitrary mass detention and attempts to erase the Muslim minority group's culture.
The US Treasury Department has also sanctioned the three and a former top official in the autonomous region.
It says their assets in the US have been frozen and they are barred from making any transactions with US businesses.
The US Congress enacted the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act last month to impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses against Uighurs.
China has indicated that it could take countermeasures.
NHK
