China announced on Sunday that it would take countermeasures against two Canadian institutions and 20 Americans concerned about human rights issues between the Uyghurs and Tibet.
The measures, which took effect on Saturday, include asset freezes and bans on entry and the targets include Canada’s Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee, China’s foreign ministry announces on its website.
Human rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses against Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers about 10 million people in the western region of Xinjiang, adding the widespread use of forced hard labor in the camps. Beijing denies any abuse.
China took control of Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” from feudal serfdom. However, international human rights teams and exiles condemn what they call China’s oppressive domination of Tibetan areas.
For either establishment, China said it was freezing their “movable assets, real estate and other types of assets in Chinese territory. ” It freezes the assets in China of another 15 people from the Uighur establishment and five members of the Tibet committee, prohibiting them from entering China, specifically Hong Kong and Macau.
Canada announced sanctions against several Chinese officials, denouncing “serious human rights violations. “
“Canada is deeply involved with human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet and opposes those who practice Falun Gong,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement released earlier this month.
Calls to the Canadian embassy in Beijing went unanswered. Reuters got a quick reaction from Canada’s human rights or Global Affairs teams.
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