House votes overwhelmingly to hit China over Uighur persecution, internment camps


The House voted 407-1 on Tuesday evening to approve the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, which would encourage sanctions against Chinese officials found to be responsible for Beijing's detention of an estimated 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other minority groups in China’s far west Xinjiang province. The bill, which now goes to the Senate, also restricts U.S. exports of artificial intelligence and other technology that China might utilize in its Uighur crackdown and the internment camps it's using to "re-educate" its predominantly Muslim detainees.
It the Senate passes the legislation and President Trump signs it, it would "mark the most significant international attempt to pressure China over its mass detention of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities," says BBC China correspondent John Sudworth. China sharply criticized the legislation, as it had a law Trump signed last week targeting Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses in Hong Kong. The new bill "deliberately smears the human rights condition in Xinjiang, slanders China's efforts in de-radicalization and counter-terrorism, and viciously attacks the Chinese government's Xinjiang policy," China's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The House legislation criticizes China's "arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment" of Uighurs and others in Xinjiang and specifically names Chen Quanguo, the province's Communist Party boss and apparent "architect" of the camps. "Former detainees and their family members have told The Associated Press that they were arbitrarily held in heavily secured, prison-like camps where they were pressured to renounce their faith and express gratitude to the ruling Communist Party," AP reports. The legislation also criticizes China's pervasive, invasive surveillance and accuses China of forcibly separating Muslim children from their families.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), the lone vote against the Uighur and Hong Kong bills, explained that in both cases, he voted no because "when our government meddles in the internal affairs of foreign countries, it invites those governments to meddle in our affairs."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
AI workslop is muddying the American workplace
The explainer Using AI may create more work for others
-
Japan poised to get first woman prime minister
Speed Read The ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi
-
The 5 best mob movies of all time
The Week Recommends If you don’t like a good gangster flick, just fuhgeddaboudit
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsion
Speed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot