China to Take Countersteps in Response to US Sanctions on Xinjiang

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - China will take measures in response to the US sanctions against the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, a representative of the Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, said Friday.

"The US decision is a blunt intervention in China's internal affairs and a serious breach of key norms of international relations. We reject and condemn this", the diplomat said.

According to the representative, "China has decided to take countermeasures regarding US citizens and organisations for unbecoming behaviour on issues related to Xinjiang".

a guard tower and barbed wire fences around a facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region, one of a growing number of internment camps in the region, where by some estimates 1 million Muslims are detained, forced to give up their language and their religion and subject to political indoctrination

© AP Photo / Ng Han Guan

The statement comes as a response to recent US sanctions on the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB) and four current or former Chinese officials, imposed on Thursday under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act that allows Washington to apply sanctions against Beijing over alleged human rights violations.

According to the US, China has been holding up to one million ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims in re-education camps in the autonomous region, abusing their rights. China has repeatedly refuted the accusation, stating that the only reason for detentions in the area is linked to "fighting violence, terrorism, and separatism". Beijing also stressed that the facilities called "re-education camps" by the US are actually education centres, where Uyghurs can learn the official language.