China sanctions US and Canadian officials over Xinjiang rebuke | Al Jazeera

China has announced sanctions against two US officials, a Canadian lawmaker and a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee, in response to “coordinated action” taken by the two countries last week over Beijing’s treatment of its Muslim Uighur minority.
Beijing has been pushing back against sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada for what they say are rights violations against Uighurs and other Turkic minorities in the country’s western Xinjiang region.

In a statement on Saturday, China’s foreign ministry said it would take measures against the chair and vice-chair of the US government’s Advisory Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Gayle Manchin and Tony Perkins.

It also sanctioned Canadian parliament member Michael Chong, the Conservative Party’s foreign affairs critic and vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (FAAE), as well as the FAAE’s Subcommittee on International Human Rights.

That subcommittee has eight members and this month presented a report concluding that atrocities had been committed in Xinjiang that constitute crimes against humanity and genocide.