US Sanctions Two More Officials Over Xinjiang

The United States on Monday announced sanctions on two more Chinese officials in connection with alleged serious human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region, where Washington says ethnic Muslims have been the victims of genocide.

The US Treasury Department named the officials as Wang Junzheng, secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB).

The two were targeted under the US Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, it said.

"Chinese authorities will continue to face consequences as long as atrocities occur in Xinjiang,” Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.

"Treasury is committed to promoting accountability for the Chinese government’s human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention and torture, against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities,” she said. (Reuters)