US visa sanctions for China over treatment of Uyghur Muslims

Chinese officials have been hit with US visa sanctions amid its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, including repressive acts against Uyghur Muslims. 

The officials denied access to US visas are understood to be responsible for, or complicit in, acts of religious oppression, while also targeting ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders and more.

China’s government has been accused of harassing, intimidating, surveilling and even abducting religious and spiritual leaders, members of ethnic minority groups, dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, labor organizers, civil society organizers and peaceful protesters both in and outside China.

An official statement issued by the US Department of State (DoS) said: “The United States rejects efforts by officials of the People’s Republic of China to harass, intimidate, surveil and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and US citizens, who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations.”

Genocide against Uyghur Muslims

The US has accused China of committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims, while more than 1 million Uyghurs and others predominantly Muslim minorities are being held in mass internment camps across China’s Xinjiang province.

However, China has refuted the USA’s accusations and blasted the sanctioning of officials. The country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said: “The US should revoke its visa restrictions on Chinese officials immediately, or China will react with reciprocal countermeasures.”

Wang claimed that the USA’s actions ‘violate international law and the basic rules of international relations’. He accused the US government of ‘interfering in China’s domestic affairs’.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “The US slanders China, and suppresses Chinese officials groundlessly with a statement filled with ideological bias and political lies. The US is unqualified to point fingers at China’s human rights situation.”

“China’s human rights situation is at its best in history, which is for all of the international community to see,” Wang added.

US a big human rights violator

Chinese officials hit back at US claims surrounding human rights in China, accusing America of hypocrisy and claiming that the US is the ‘largest human rights violator in the world’. 

Wang said: “America’s all-round and systemic violation of the human rights of Native Americans constitutes de facto genocide.”

“In more than 100 years since the founding of the US, the country has been purging systemically the Native American people, a population that plunged to 250,000 in the early 20th century from 5 million in the late 15th century,” Wang added.

Ongoing spat

The latest US visa sanctions on Chinese nationals are the latest in an ongoing series of tit-for-tat sanctions in recent years, the latest of which saw Chinese journalists hit with US visa sanctions, though these have since been relaxed.

During Trump’s presidency, relations between the US and China hit an all time low amid a series of rows over trade, visa access, Hong Kong and COVID-19, which Trump accused China of ‘starting on purpose’.

Wang said: “The US is clamoring all day and threatening sanctions on other countries under the pretext of protecting human rights. Such a trick is doomed to fail.”

Workpermit.com can help with US employment-based visas

If you would like to apply for a US work visa – including L1 visas, E2 visas, O1 visas and H1B visas - Workpermit.com can help. 

Workpermit.com is a specialist visa services firm with over thirty years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice. Contact us for further details. You can also telephone 0344 991 9222.