A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has called on the Biden administration to press China harder over the jailing of Uyghur activists and to focus on securing the release of four high-profile prisoners.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the 43 lawmakers said they were "grateful" to see the United States press China over its treatment of Uyghurs at the recent U.N. human rights review, but wanted more pressure.
China on Jan. 23 appeared before the U.N. Human Rights Council for a five-yearly review of its human rights record. Beijing was criticized by the United States and its Western allies for its treatment of Uyghurs and Tibetans, even if every country only got 45 seconds to speak.
The United States has accused China of carrying out a genocide against Uyghurs – most of whom live in the far-western Xinjiang region – by imprisoning, torturing and sterilizing those who do not fall into line. Beijing has denied the claims and said that alleged high-security concentration camps are in fact vocational training centers.
Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, the 43 U.S. lawmakers called for the pressure campaign against China to continue until it at least releases many imprisoned Uyghurs.
“As the process moves forward,” they wrote, “we strongly urge [the State] Department, in its role representing the United States at the UNHRC, to continue to vigorously advocate for those arbitrarily detained in China and ensure their swift and safe release.”
The letter also requests that the United States "specifically" focus on four Uyghur prisoners who are relatives of American citizens: retired doctor Gulshan Abbas, university student Kamile Wayit, journalist Qurban Mamut and doctor and translator Ahmetjan Juma.
Juma was sentenced to 14 years in prison, it says, “in retaliation for his brother’s work as a journalist for Radio Free Asia.” Juma is the brother of Mamatjan Juma, the deputy director of RFA’s Uyghur service.
Bipartisan effort
The letter includes signatures from 43 lawmakers from across the political aisle, including Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois who serves as his party’s top member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Others include Rep. Young Kim, a Republican from California and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia whose Fairfax district is home to the country’s largest community of Uyghur-Americans.
Ziba Murat, the daughter of Gulshan Abbas, expressed her “heartfelt gratitude” to the Rep. Michael Waltz, a Republican from Florida, and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, for organizing the letter and called on the White House to renew its focus on Uyghurs.
“It is amazing to see such bipartisan support from the Congress, I’m truly overwhelmed,” Murat said, adding she wanted the cases raised in every meeting with China. “In spite of the agony and exhaustion, I will never stop speaking out and fighting for my mother’s return to us.”
RFA’s Mamatjan Juma said his brother – like the relatives of many of his colleagues – was “innocent and unjustly suffering in jail” due to his journalism about Uyghurs and should be immediately released.
“It's heartening to see the suffering of our loved ones in Chinese prison camps recognized,” he said. “At Radio Free Asia Uyghur service, eight of our staff members, most of whom are U.S. citizens, have confirmed that their loved ones are jailed in China due to their journalism.”
“We urge the U.S. government to escalate efforts to secure the release of our loved ones from Chinese prisons and to hold China accountable for its crimes against humanity and ongoing genocide,” he added.
Edited by Malcolm Foster