The Biden adminstration announced sanctions against two Chinese government officials and two military leaders in Myanmar.
The Department of the Treasury said that Wang Junzheng and Chen Mingguo are “connected to serious human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, which reportedly includes arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse, among other serious human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim population indigenous to Xinjiang, and other ethnic minorities in the region.”
Junzheng is the secretary of the Party Committee of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and Mingguo is the director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau.
“Chinese authorities will continue to face consequences as long as atrocities occur in Xinjiang,” Andrea M. Gacki, director of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said.
Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State, said that China “continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. The United States reiterates its calls on the PRC to bring an end to the repression of Uyghurs, who are predominantly Muslim, including by releasing all those arbitrarily held in internment camps and detention facilities.”
The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against Than Hlaing and Lt. Gen, Aung Soe. Hlaing is the chief of the Burma Police Force and the deputy home affairs minister. Soe is a Bureau of Special Operations commander. The two are responsible for being violent against peaceful protestors.