Beijing: China has announced sanctions over an unspecified number of American officials, claiming they lied about human rights in China, ARY News reported.
According to details, the move came after the USA announced visa restrictions on Chinese officials, accusing them of repressing ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang region of China.
China has responded to the accusations by the US State Department over Chinese officials’ involvement in a crackdown on religious minorities.
The US State department barred the officials from travelling to the US because of their involvement in the “repressive acts”.
China-US diplomatic relations have hit their lowest in decades following China’s perceived support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Antony Blinken urged China to “end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity ” in the Xinjiang region of China last week, as Washington announced sanctions on unnamed Chinese officials.
Consequently, China announced to impose reciprocal visa restrictions on US officials on Thursday.
The sanctions would be applied to those “who concocted lies on human rights issues involving China, promoted and implemented sanctions on China, and harmed China’s rights and interests,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
The spokesperson said that “The US uses the pretext of so-called human rights issues to concoct malicious lies, and uses these as a reason to interfere in China’s internal affairs, smear China’s image and suppress Chinese officials.”
However, Wang did not disclose the names of the officials to be sanctioned or the extent of the visa restrictions.
The US announcement came a few days after President Joe Biden spoke via video call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of American efforts to dissuade Xi from supporting Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
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