A protester, wearing a mask, holds a U.S. flag during a protest against human rights abuses in China against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province, urging the U.S. government to take action against Beijing on April 6, 2019 in Washington , U.S.
Yasin Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
China has imposed sanctions against two U.S. religious rights officials, a Canadian member of parliament and a human rights subcommittee in the Canadian House of Commons, according to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry released on Saturday.
The sanctions are the latest escalation in a growing dispute between Western nations and Beijing over the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in China, particularly in Xinjiang province.
Chinese sanctions target the president and vice president of the United States International Religious Liberty Commission, Gayle Manchin and Tony Perkins. USCIRF condemned China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang and endorsed recent US sanctions against Chinese authorities.
Beijing also targeted Canadian congressman Michael Chong, vice chairman of the House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee. The foreign affairs subcommittee on international human rights has also been sanctioned.
The House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee released a report earlier this month, based on meetings in the subcommittee, which concluded that human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China constitute crimes against humanity and genocide.
Chinese sanctions prohibit officials from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau and prohibits Chinese citizens and institutions from doing business with officials and conducting exchanges with the human rights subcommittee.
The sanctions come in response to punitive measures that the U.S. imposed on two Chinese officials earlier this week. The Biden government said it imposed these sanctions in response to human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims.
American sanctions targeted Wang Junzheng of China, secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps party committee, and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Department of Public Security.
The two officers were targeted because of their connection to “arbitrary detention and serious physical abuse, among other serious human rights abuses against Uighurs,” the Treasury said in a statement on Monday.
Canada has also imposed sanctions against Chinese authorities for the treatment of Uighurs.