The US said on Friday it would keep denying visas to Chinese officials over human rights concerns in Xinjiang, Tibet and elsewhere, vowing accountability despite a thaw in tensions between the powers.
Unlike previous high-profile actions against Chinese officials, the State Department did not identify or give a number of those who would be denied visas or specify if additional people were being blacklisted.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US was restricting visas to current or former officials “for their involvement in repression of marginalised religious and ethnic communities”.
Beijing “has not lived up to its commitments to respect and protect human rights, as demonstrated by the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, the erosion of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, persistent human rights abuses in Tibet and transnational repression around the world”, he said in a statement.
He called on China to accept recommendations in the latest UN review of its rights record, including releasing citizens “it has arbitrarily and unjustly detained”.
Under previous president Donald Trump, the US publicly named several officials who would be denied entry including Chen Quanguo, the architect of China’s hardline policies in Tibet and then Xinjiang who has since retired.
Under President Joe Biden, the US has kept up pressure on China, including by expanding restrictions on technology exports, but has also pursued dialogue to keep tensions in check.
The United States says that China is carrying out genocide against the mostly Muslim Uygur people in Xinjiang, pointing to accounts of vast detention camps, allegations strongly rejected by Beijing.
