Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, has allegedly confirmed to MPs that the UK received information about specific Chinese officials to target with sanctions over the human rights abuses towards Uighur Muslims.
Mike Pompeo was reported to have had a secret meeting on Tuesday, in which he told MPs that the Government had been given information about Beijing officials involved in the persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
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This comes amid calls from both Conservative backbenchers and the Labour Party to sanction any Beijing Officials involved with human rights abuses in China.
The US Secretary of State went on to claim that WHO chief Tedros had struck a deal with China in order to ensure his election victory as WHO Director-General. Pompeo said that China had “co-opted international institutions like the World Health Organisation”.
The WHO has responded by calling these allegations “unfounded ad hominem attacks”.
The first wave of post-Brexit sanctions was, earlier this year, announced by Dominic Raab, which included Saudi and Russian nationals. The Government, however, was heavily criticised because no Chinese officials had been named.
Photo by UKTI
On Tuesday, Mike Pompeo, at a press conference with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, said: ”We think that the entire world needs to work together to ensure that every country – including China – behaves in the international system in ways that are appropriate and consistent with the international order.”
Among the MPs calling for sanctions against China is the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Lisa Nandy, who said: “The Government should accelerate the timetable for Magnitsky sanctions to be imposed on Chinese officials involved in the persecution of the Uighur people in Xinjiang.”
