Trump official seeks sanctions for Chinese leaders on human rights concerns

Source: The Washington Post




By Danielle Paquette
June 28 at 12:21 PM

Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador for religious freedom, is pressing the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Chinese leaders associated with the country’s crackdown on faith groups, according to two congressional aides briefed by the administration.

Brownback told Republican members of Congress in private meetings this month the United States has a unique moment to address religious liberty given ongoing trade talks with China, according to the aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the effort.

Under Brownback’s proposal, Trump could write an executive order, based on Obama-era human rights legislation, telling the State and Treasury Departments to freeze the bank accounts and other assets of Chinese politicians involved in the suppression of worship.

His first target would be Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party’s secretary of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims are reported by the State Department to be detained in “reeducation centers,” said one of the officials.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-official-seeks-to-sanction-chinese-leaders-on-human-rights-concerns/2018/06/28/e965c414-7a37-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html