‘Arrogant and Despicable’: Chinese Embassy Throws Tantrum after Hawley Introduces Bill to Sanction Xi
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The Chinese regime had furious words for Republican Senator Josh Hawley after he proposed legislation to sanction its authoritarian leader Xi Jinping for presiding over human-rights abuses against the Muslim population in Xinjiang.
In a Monday letter obtained by Axios, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., slammed Hawley’s bill as “arrogant and despicable,” accusing him of undermining Xi and the Chinese Communist Party.
“Senator Hawley is trying to smear the 20th CPC National Congress and the leadership of the CPC, to divide the relationship between the CPC and the Chinese people, and even dare to claim to ‘sanction’ China’s top leadership,” Li Xiang, counselor with the Chinese embassy, wrote.
The letter reiterated China’s oft repeated claim that Western accusations of genocide in Xinjiang are grossly inaccurate. In August, a U.N. report documented “serious human rights violations” against the Uighur Muslims, including forced labor, forced sterilization, suppression of speech and language, and outright torture.
An independent U.N. expert charged that some of the Chinese government’s activities there could amount to crimes against humanity. Li claimed China’s forceful measures in Xinjiang were “not about ethnicity, human rights or religion” but about “anti-terrorism, anti-separatism, and de-radicalization.”
“The US and some Western forces seek to destabilize Xinjiang and use it to contain China. This unjust, pernicious political agenda will not have people’s political support and will only end in failure,” Li said.
Hawley’s bill, introduced last week, likely prompted an angry rebuke because it would level sanctions directly at Xi, who is poised to secure a third term as the leader of the CCP and consolidate his power. The bill would hit Xi and his top CCP lieutenants with Magnitsky sanctions, freezing any assets within reach of the Western financial system and barring them from traveling to the U.S.
“While Joe Biden is distracted, Xi Jinping is rapidly consolidating power within the Chinese Communist Party, power he intends to use to compel the world to turn a blind eye to the crimes of his regime. But we must not look away. We must hold Xi and his lieutenants accountable for their crimes against humanity and we can start by imposing real costs for their complicity in the atrocities in Xinjiang,” Hawley said in a statement.
The CCP has recently put on several public displays to demonstrate Xi’s authority. For example, last week former Chinese president Hu Jintao, now elderly, was physically removed from a session of congress after new members of the CCP’s Central Committee were selected in a process that takes place once every five years. Hu resisted and appeared distressed as he was escorted out.
Li wrote that China expects major U.S. political players to adopt a conciliatory approach toward China and not seek a new Cold War.
“The Chinese side urges Senator Hawley to abandon the Cold-War zero-sum mentality and ideological prejudice against China, look at CPC and Chinese government’s Xinjiang policy correctly, stop the advancement of this bill, stop any attack and smear against CPC and Chinese leadership, stop any action to undermine China’s sovereignty and security, and stop moving even further down the wrong and dangerous path,” Li said.
