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China ‘crushing’ Hong Kong, wants to control global communications, says US
The departments of state and treasury also designated five Chinese nationals and two entities for alleged involvement in trafficking of synthetic opioids.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday accused China of trying to dominate the global communications networks and systems and slammed it, once again, for “crushing” freedom in Hong Kong and forcing “mass abortions and sterilization” among Uighur muslims in Xinjiang.
The departments of state and treasury also designated five Chinese nationals and two entities for alleged involvement in trafficking of synthetic opioids.
“The Chinese Communist Party is crushing freedom in Hong Kong,” Pompeo said at the annual summit of the Family Leader, a conservative group, in Iowa state. “It’s threatening a free Taiwan. It’s trying to dominate world communications networks, including those right here in places like Iowa.”
The secretary of state was referring to the Chinese telecommunications firms Huawei and ZTE that have designated national security threats by the US and telecom companies are barred from receiving federal subsidies for buying their equipment, popular in rural America including Iowa.
The Trump administration has also pushed other countries to bar these Chinese companies. And it welcomed this week the decision of the United Kingdom to bar Huawei from participating in the roll out of the 5G network.
India, which banned 56 Chinese apps in retaliation for the Galwan clashes, could also bar Huawei from its 5G network, according to reports.
The United States has escalated attacks on China in recent weeks, followed by punitive measures in many instances, over an entire range of issues — including the new national security law for Hong Kong, mistreatment of Uighur muslims.
President Donald Trump signed into law earlier this week a legislations that empowers his administration to announce sanctions against China for the Hong Kong security law. He also signed an executive order the same day that preferential treatment for Hong Kong, which, though an earlier directive, will be denied high-tech exports.
The administration is also reported to be considering visa bans on officials of the ruling Chinese Communist Party and their relatives, and throw out those already in the US. The ban could extend to officials of the People’s Liberation Army, according t reports. Or could be narrowed and just pick the 25 member so the politburo.
The Trump administration announced sanctions against several Chinese officials last week for human rights abuses against Uighur muslims, including a member of the CCP — Chen Quanguo, who is a member of China’s 25-member ruling politburo and party secretary of the Xinjiang region.
“A few weeks back I read a report about the Chinese Communist Party forcing mass abortions and sterilization on Chinese Muslims in Western China.,” Pompeo said Friday about the mistreatment of Uighurs. “These are some of the most gross human rights violations we have seen and I’ve referred to it as the stain of the century.”
