US House passes Uighur Human Rights bill, pressure on China

The US House of Representatives has passed a legislation that provides for sanctions against China for human rights violations of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

The Democrat-controlled House cleared the bill with 431 to one votes, showing overwhelming support for the bill, which will now go to President Donald Trump for his signatures.

The bill calls upon the US to impose sanctions against Chinese officials involved in the ethnic cleansing of the Uighurs, detaining more than a million in internment camps for re-education and denial of human rights.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said through the bill's approval, "we are sending a message to the persecuted that they are not forgotten. We're saying to the President of China, you may tell these people that they are forgotten, but they are not," she added.

<a href="https://indianarrative.com/world/wannabe-caliph-erdogan-dumps-uighurs-for-china-money-2413.html"><strong>Barely a week back</strong></a>, Jim Risch, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, had tweeted his support for the Uighurs. His tweet which was aimed at Turkey was picked up by Edward Markey, Democratic Senator, who also chastized Turkey for not stepping forward for the protection of the persecuted Uighurs.

The approval of the bill shows that the US is keen to ramp up pressure on China, which is evidenced in an ongoing trade war and Trump's categorical stand over investigations into the origins of the coronavirus.

On the same day, the US also requested a UN Security Council meeting to address the proposed Chinese national security law for Hong Kong, but this was turned down by Beijing saying that Hong Kong does not concern the world body.

The Uighur Human Rights bill 2020, which was earlier called the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019, empowers the US government to monitor the conditions of the Uighurs in China..