China has decided to restrict the visas for US officials, in response to the US visa restrictions on some China officials, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
The United States was restricting visas of some Chinese officials for involvement in “repressive acts” against ethnic and religious minority groups, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this month.
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In a statement, which provided no specific details on which officials would be targeted, Blinken reiterated a call for China to “end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Xinjiang is in the grip of a years-long “anti-terrorism” campaign that has seen more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities detained in a sprawling network of “re-education” camps, according to rights groups.
Blinken noted that the visa restrictions would be focused on Chinese officials complicit in policies aimed at repressing religious and ethnic minorities, as well as other dissidents, human rights activists and journalists.
He noted that the actions by Chinese officials extended outside China’s borders, including into the United States.
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