US passes new bill to boost protection for China's Uyghur, confront Beijing

US House of Representatives has passed sweeping legislation that would confront China on censorship and disinformation, and tighten America’s grip against PRC’s gross violations of human rights abuse in Beijing’s far-west Xinjiang region against the ethnic minority Uyghur community. US President Joe Biden signed a landmark America COMPETES Act, that would strengthen the US’ tech industry by making an investment of over USD 52 billion to increase domestic production of key products such as semiconductors. The bill will also address vulnerabilities in the US supply chain. 

The 2,900-page measure contains a number of foreign policies and provisions that also include laws on China’s treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hongkongers. Biden had earlier ensured that no goods were made with forced labour on the minority community Uyghurs in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China enter the United States as he had signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. But the new COMPETES underscores the United States’ commitment to combat forced labor and genocide in Xinjiang. According to the US statements, the newly introduced bill would create a ‘special coordinator’ in the US to monitor the minority group’s rights within China. 

“America COMPETES builds a foundation for America to succeed for decades to come, not just in our competition with the PRC [People’s Republic of China], but in our fight for a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world,” US Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement. 

Bill empowers US to appoint 'special envoy' for Uyghur issues

The bill will require the Biden administration to appoint a special envoy for Uyghur issues, who would, in turn, be responsible to coordinate the government’s response to “the gross violations of universally recognized human rights occurring in Xinjiang”.  China’s mass detentions of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, and the deployment of advanced surveillance systems and police detection methods will be categorized as human abuses tactics, as per the text of the document.

The bill also safeguards Uyghur journalists and opposes the Chinese government’s crackdown that attempts to suppress the free, democratic voices and flares the propelling of misinformation. Welcoming the bill, chief of the World Uyghur Congress Dolkun Isa reportedly stated that the new bill will help stop China’s ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs and other minority communities. 

“The Uyghur Genocide has been ongoing for the past five years. And China hasn’t changed its intentions on committing the genocide,” Isa was quoted as saying by ANI. 

She also lauded the Biden administration for introducing measures that would help resettle Uyghur refugees in many countries. The bill prioritizes the US response to the genocide of the Uyghurs who are “living under the thumb of China and worrying for their safety”. “The Uyghur Genocide has been ongoing for the past five years. And China hasn’t changed its intentions on committing the genocide,” Isa asserted.