Iran Press/ America: The US Department of Commerce on Friday announced it would impose sanctions against a Chinese government institute as well as eight Chinese companies over human rights abuses against Uighurs and other minority groups in China's western Xinjiang region, according to DW News.
The announcement came after Chinese lawmakers proposed a law that would put a severe restriction on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
"These nine parties are complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region," the Commerce Department said in a statement.
The US will sanction two entities, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security's Institute of Forensic Science and Aksu Huafu Textiles, for "engaging in human rights violations and abuses." Seven other companies will be sanctioned for enabling surveillance in Xinjiang, the Commerce Department said, adding that all will be subject to restrictions from exports from the US.
The sanctions were announced after China made moves to enact a long-stalled national security law in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong.
The legislation, proposed in a bill submitted Friday, would outlaw secessionist and subversive activity as well as terrorism and foreign interference. Prior to the coronavirus crisis, last year Hong Kong was rocked by months of pro-democracy demonstrations that sometimes resulted in violent confrontations between police and protesters.
Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said in a news briefing that the bill violates the "one country, two systems" framework guaranteed to the city by Beijing.
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