China Criticizes Senate Bill That Could Sanction Chinese Officials

China criticized a bill passed by the U.S. Senate that urges the Trump administration to sanction Chinese officials responsible for the oppression of the country’s Uyghur population.

The bill, passed Sept. 11, asks the State Department to evaluate whether sanctions are warranted for China’s human rights abuses and “mass internment” of the Uyghur people, according to a press release from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The bill asks the administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act and work with U.S. allies to target Chinese officials.

A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said China “firmly opposes” the bill, which is in “total disregard of facts” and could hurt the “overall relationship” between the two sides. “Such flagrant interference in China's internal affairs will only make the Chinese people more indignant,” the spokesman said during a Sept. 12 press conference, according to a transcript in English released by the Chinese Embassy in Washington. “We urge the U.S. side to respect facts, return to reason, discard the Cold-War mentality, stop taking Xinjiang-related issues as a pretext to interfere in China's domestic affairs, and stop pushing the bill to become law.”