US House Votes To Sanction Chinese Officials Over Uighur Abuse; China Vows To Publish “Black List” In Retaliation

In the past few days, China’s Global Times twitter troll Hu Xijin has been quite vocal not only about China’s anger over the recent passage of the pro-HK bill that was signed by Trump last Thursday, but also about China’s response to what he said was the imminent passage of a Xinjian-related bill, which would sanction Chinese officials responsible for the repression of over a million Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.

Overnight, Hu issued his latest not so veiled threat on the matter saying that “since US Congress plans to pass Xinjiang-related bill, China is considering to impose visa restrictions on US officials and lawmakers who’ve had odious performance on Xinjiang issue;it might also ban all US diplomatic passport holders from entering Xinjiang.”

Based on what I know, since US Congress plans to pass Xinjiang-related bill, China is considering to impose visa restrictions on US officials and lawmakers who’ve had odious performance on Xinjiang issue;it might also ban all US diplomatic passport holders from entering Xinjiang.

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) December 3, 2019

Yesterday, Hu retweeted a post by The Business Source division of the Global Times, which warned that China would release an “unreliable entity list” soon, which includes relevant US entities, in response to the passage of the Xinjiang-related bill “that will harm Chinese firms’ interests, prompting China to speed up the move.”

Source told Global Times that China will release an “unreliable entity list” soon, which includes relevant US entities. US House is expected to pass a Xinjiang-related bill that will harm Chinese firms’ interests, prompting China to speed up the move.

— The Business Source (@GlobalTimesBiz) December 2, 2019

His comments came just days after one or more Chinese dissidents leaked the troubling secrets of China’s Xinjiang camps to the foreign media, which prompted the following retort from Hu: “China wants real human rights in Xinjiang: people’s rights to have a peaceful life. West’s hypocrisy won’t affect Xinjiang internally, nor will it influence Muslim countries’ attitude. It’s just a few media outlets and politicians pretending to be representing the world.Pathetic.”

China wants real human rights in Xinjiang: people’s rights to have a peaceful life. West’s hypocrisy won’t affect Xinjiang internally, nor will it influence Muslim countries’ attitude. It’s just a few media outlets and politicians pretending to be representing the world.Pathetic. https://t.co/zMKlMVttEz

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) November 25, 2019

Well, moments ago the U.S. House of Representatives indeed overwhelmingly approved legislation that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials over human rights abuses against Muslim minorities, provoking Beijing to retaliate just as trade deal negotiations between the two sides appear to be on the verge of collapse.

The bill is an amended version of the Senate’s S. 178 to support the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group in western China, and it passed Tuesday, on a vote of 407 to 1. Chinese state media warned before the vote that the government could release a list of “unreliable entities” that could lead to sanctions against U.S. companies. The measure follows legislation supporting Hong Kong protesters signed into law last week by President Donald Trump.

And now, with Xi Jinping having already lost serious credibility after he failed to forcefully respond to Trump’s signing of the Hong Kong bill, all eyes will be on China, and whether it will indeed trigger visa restrictions and limit travel for US officials to Xinjiang province (something which will never happen) and, more importantly, if Beijing will finally publish its “unreliable entity”, aka black list, which it has been threatening to do since May and which may include such names as Apple and Micron. Well, now that the House has passed the Uighur bill, Beijing may no longer be able to delay, or else it will be seen as a pushover every time a diplomatic – or other – challenge escalates. Needless to say, for a president for life such as Xi Jinping, that is hardly an option, so stay tuned for China’s response which may be due any moment.