US passage of Uighur crackdown bill spark China’s anger

The US house of representatives has passed a bill to counter what it calls the arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment of Uighur Muslims in China.

The bill calls for targeted sanctions on members of the Chinese government and names the communist party secretary in the Xinjiang autonomous region, Chen Quanguo.

The bill still needs approval from the senate and president Trump.

The Uighur human rights policy act 2019 bill was passed by 407 to 1 in the house of representatives on Tuesday night.

Its passing comes days after Mr Trump signed into law a bill that supports pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong leading to condemnation from China.

Meanwhile, China has reacted angrily to the passage of a bill seeking tough sanction to Xinjiang, where more than one million Muslims, mostly ethnic Uighurs, are being held in re-education camps.

A statement by china’s foreign ministry says the bill smears China’s efforts to eliminate and combat extremism.

It urges the US to immediately correct its mistake by preventing the above bill from becoming law.

The statement also asked the US not to use Xinjiang as a way to interfere in China’s domestic affairs.