New Delhi:
The Chinese Embassy in Washington denounced the US imposition of visa restrictions on some Chinese officials. The US decision "seriously violates the basic norms governing international relations, interferes in China's internal affairs and undermines China's interests.”
"China deplores and firmly opposes that," an embassy spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"Xinjiang does not have the so-called human rights issue claimed by the US The accusations by the US side are merely made-up pretexts for its interference," the spokesperson said.
This came after United States said Tuesday it would curb visas for Chinese officials over “repression” of Uighurs and other Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang, a day after imposing commercial restrictions. “The United States calls on the People’s Republic of China to immediately end its campaign of repression in Xinjiang,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
The statement came a day after The Trump administration blacklisted 28 Chinese entities that have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in China’s campaign targeting Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
“The U.S. Government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China,” said Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce. “This action will ensure that our technologies, fostered in an environment of individual liberty and free enterprise, are not used to repress defenceless minority populations,” he added.
In a statement, US Department of Commerce said, “Located in XUAR and throughout China, these entities have all been implicated in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance.”
