Government officials in China are facing rising pressure to address human rights issues linked to the regime there, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently tweeting the U.S. plans to sanction officials of the Chinese Communist Party over abuses.
“Perpetrators of human rights abuses must continue to face consequences,” Blinken posted. “The United States has taken action to impose visa restrictions on PRC (People's Republic of China) officials for attempting to intimidate, harass and repress dissidents and human rights defenders inside and outside of China.”
While state department officials have yet to name individuals that will be sanctioned, earlier this month nearly 200 human rights organizations signed an open letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet asking her to release a report on the ongoing issues in China related to human rights.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the group came together to deliver the letter after Bachelet announced her office had reached agreement with officials in China allowing her to tour the country, including Xinjiang, in the coming weeks.
Although criticism of human rights violations in that country dates back as far as 2018, clamor has been growing recently about actions being taken there against Uyghur Muslims amounting to a form of genocide. Other consistent criticisms include subjecting the Uyghurs to involuntary birth control, political indoctrination and forced labor.
Over the last year, as many as 40 mostly Western nations joined forces in calling on China to grant the UN and other independent researchers “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang.”
“There’s an awful lot of deference to Beijing, and it’s not clear why,” Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch’s China director, told The Wall Street Journal.
Peter Irwin of the Uyghur Human Rights Project told The Wall Street Journal he doesn’t expect anything about Bachelet’s proposed visit to be easy.
“The Uyghurs there cannot speak openly, cannot speak publicly because they are so scared of retaliation by local authorities who were watching very closely,” he said.
The United States took a stand earlier this year, moving to lead a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, while citing the human rights atrocities known to be taking place across the country, Globe Banner reported. During the games, athletes censored themselves for fear of reprisals.
Over time, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom joined the U.S. in its diplomatic Olympic boycott, all of them citing what they deemed as Beijing’s poor human rights record involving the People's Republic of China. China's reaction to the boycott was that the U.S. would "pay a price."
Among the groups signing off on the letter penned to Bachelet were Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, with activists insisting an assessment by the UN is an important step toward holding Beijing accountable for a campaign that independent researchers estimate has led to up to a million people being held in internment camps.
While agreeing to facilitate Bachelet’s visit, China has dismissed the genocide allegation as “the lie of the century,” further describing its campaign as an innovative response to religious extremism and terrorism.
Blinken has also demanded China not deny the families of Uyghur American activists permission to leave China, arguing that to do so registers as a form of “transnational repression.”
