US imposes sanctions on 2 Chinese officials for human rights violations in Tibet

Washington:

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on two senior Chinese officials for “serious human rights violations” in Tibet, including allegations of torture and murder of prisoners and forced sterilization.

The US has blocked all US assets and criminalized dealings with Wu Yingjie, who was China’s boss in Tibet from 2016 to 2021, and Zhang Hongbo, China’s police chief in the Himalayan region since 2018 , who would still be in control.

The announcement of the sanctions comes despite a relative easing of tensions between the United States and China since Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met last month in Bali and agreed to intensify dialogue.

“Our actions are further aimed at disrupting and deterring the People’s Republic of China’s arbitrary detention and physical abuse of members of minority religious groups in the Tibet Autonomous Region,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. .

Wu led a policy of “stability” in Tibet that included “serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, physical violence, arbitrary arrests and mass detentions,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. a statement.

“Additional abuses during Wu’s tenure include forced sterilization, forced abortion, restrictions on religious and political freedoms, and torture of prisoners.”

Zhang has engaged in abuses, including torturing and murdering prisoners while running detention centers across Tibet, he said.

China has ruled the predominantly Buddhist region with an iron fist since 1951, when it sent troops in what it called a “peaceful liberation”. The region’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India in 1959 amid a failed uprising.

In recent years, the international spotlight has increasingly focused on Xinjiang in northern Tibet, where the United States claims China is pursuing a policy of genocide against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim and Turkic-speaking peoples.

As part of a series of sanctions on Friday, the United States also targeted North Korean border guards for their orders to shoot on sight citizens fleeing to China and Russia.

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