Passport control at US airport (archive image)
Photo: Joe Raedle/ Getty Images
In the ongoing dispute with China, the USA has issued new travel restrictions for a certain group of people.
The entry bans were aimed at Chinese "officials" for their involvement in the "oppression" of ethnic or religious minorities.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that he had imposed "visa restrictions on officials in the People's Republic of China".
He accused them of "harassing, intimidating, monitoring and kidnapping" critics - including those "seeking refuge abroad" and "US citizens defending these vulnerable populations".
Chinese officials are "suspected of being responsible for or collaborating in any policy or action aimed at repressing religious or spiritual leaders, members of ethnic minorities, dissidents, human rights defenders, journalists, trade unionists, civil society activists and peaceful protesters in China or abroad." .
The ministry did not say which and how many Chinese officials are affected by the measures.
Example in Xinjiang and Tibet
The US again called on the Chinese government to "repeat its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, its repressive policies in Tibet," its restriction of "fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, and its human rights abuses, particularly violations of religious freedom, in other parts of the country." to end the country".
Among other things, Washington accuses China of detaining more than a million members of the Uyghur Muslim minority in re-education camps in the north-western province of Xinjiang.
Human rights groups also accuse China of also persecuting critics abroad, for example kidnapping them or blackmailing them with punitive measures against their families.
Beijing rejects the allegations despite a wide range of evidence.
jok/AFP
