China tells Congress to back off

Quest

China tells Congress to back off after planned legislation looks to sanction Beijing over imprisoning Muslims

• A group of bipartisan lawmakers plans to issue legislation on Wednesday designed to punish China over its persecution of its Muslim ethnic minority, known as the Uighurs.
• Beijing subjects Uighurs to an unprecedented amount of surveillance in their home region. Activists say the country has imprisoned up to 1 million Uighurs.
• The legislation, which was seen by Reuters, urges the White House to consider banning exports of US technology that could be used to oppress the Uighurs, impose sanctions against human rights offenders, and other actions.
• China's foreign ministry told the lawmakers, which include Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, to mind their own business and focus on domestic US affairs.

Lawmakers in Congress plan to issue a bipartisan legislation to punish China over its persecution of the Uighurs, a majority-Muslim ethnic minority populated in the country's west.

Beijing subjects the Uighurs to an unprecedented amount of surveillance in their home region of Xinjiang. China has reportedly also tried to gather personal information — like marriage certificates and drivers licenses — from the Uighur diaspora and threatening their families back at home if they did not provide it.

Activists have accused Beijing of imprisoning up to 1 million Uighurs in detention camps or re-education centers. Chinese officials claim that the centers and camps are actually"vocational training" centers that make life "colorful."

The proposed legislation, slated to be introduced on Wednesday, lays out a variety of measures designed to call out and curb China's human rights abuses against the Uighurs.