A group of bipartisan US Congressional representatives introduced a bill into the Senate and House of Representatives demanding a sterner response from the Trump administration over China’s human rights record. 

The bill proposes targeted sanctions on the Chinese government, the ruling party and officials such as Xinjiang party secretary Chen Quanguo who are “credibly alleged to be responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and elsewhere”. 

It further calls upon US intelligence to monitor the security threat posed by China’s crack down, to investigate the companies involved in establishing and maintaining the camps, for the FBI to track the harassment of Uighur Muslims and Chinese nationals studying or working in the US, to establish a post in the State Department to coordinate the US response, and demands a review by the US Commerce Department on export controls. 

The bill follows condemnation over the mistreatment and forced detention of Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang at the UN Human Rights Council. 

Chinese foreign minister, Hua Chunying, described the bill as interference and irresponsible. 

“Where do US lawmakers get this inexplicable sense of superiority from, and how can they make irresponsible remarks about the internal affairs of other countries?” Chunying said. 

“Unfortunately, they always choose to ignore their own domestic issues while over enthusiastically interfering with other country’s domestic affairs with irresponsible remarks, which are based on incorrect information and strong ideological bias."