US House passes Uyghur Act calling for tough sanctions on Beijing

The US House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday demanding a tougher response from the Trump administration over reports of mass detention centers run by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.

The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which still needs to gain approval from the US Senate, calls for concrete measures to be taken against Beijing over allegations that up to two million Muslim-majority Uyghurs have been detained in “re-education” camps in the far western region.

The Chinese government reacted with fury to the proposed legislation, which Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said “wantonly smeared China’s counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts.”

“The issue that Xinjiang faces is not about ethnicity, religion or human rights. Rather, it is about fighting violence, terrorism and separatism,” Hua said in a statement Wednesday. At her daily press conference, Hua added that the US would have to pay “the due price” for any wrong actions.