US House approves Uighur bill demanding sanctions on senior Chinese officials

'MODERN-DAY CONCENTRATION CAMPS'

Republican U.S. Representative Chris Smith called China's actions in "modern-day concentration camps" in Xinjiang "audaciously repressive," involving "mass internment of millions on a scale not seen since the Holocaust."

"We cannot be silent. We must demand an end to these barbaric practices," Smith said, adding that Chinese officials must be held accountable for "crimes against humanity."

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called China's treatment of the Uighurs "an outrage to the collective conscience of the world," adding that "America is watching."

Chris Johnson, a China expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said passage of the bill could lead to a further blurring of lines between the trade issue and the broader deteriorating China-U.S. relationship, which Beijing in the past has tended to keep separate.

"I think there's a sort of piling-on factor here that the Chinese are concerned about," he said.

Trump said on Monday the Hong Kong legislation did not make trade negotiations with China easier, but he still believed Beijing wanted a deal.

He said on Tuesday, however, that an agreement might have to wait until after the November 2020 U.S. presidential election in which he is seeking a second term.

Johnson said he did not think passage of the Uighur act would cause the delay, but added: "It would be another dousing of kindling with fuel."

The House bill requires the president to submit to Congress within 120 days a list of officials responsible for the abuses and to impose sanctions on them under the Global Magnitsky Act, which provides for visa bans and asset freezes.

The bill also requires the secretary of state to submit a report on abuses in Xinjiang, to include assessments of the numbers held in re-education and forced labor camps. United Nations experts and activists say at least 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in the camps.

It also effectively bans the export to China of items that can be used for surveillance of individuals, including facial and voice-recognition technology.