Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today applauded the U.S. Department of Treasury’s designation of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) under the Global Magnitsky Act for committing egregious religious freedom violations against Uyghur and other Muslims.
“For years, we have advocated for sanctioning the XPCC. This announcement is a significant step even beyond the sanctions announced earlier this month against senior Communist Party officials,” USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel stated. “The XPCC is essentially a parallel government in Xinjiang and has been directly involved in implementing the surveillance, mass detention, and forced labor of Uyghurs.”
The XPCC, also known as the Bingtuan, runs schools, hospitals, and even prisons in Xinjiang. The entity controls cotton fields that use forced labor. The latest Global Magnitsky designations also cover two senior XPCC officials, Jiarui Peng and Jinlong Sun.
On July 9, the Treasury Department added four senior Chinese officials to the Global Magnitsky Designations List, including Chen Quanguo, Communist Party Secretary for Xinjiang. These measures follow the enactment of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which directs the administration to impose financial sanctions and visa bans against Chinese government officials responsible for the persecution of Uyghur and other Muslims.
“This latest round of sanctions show that the U.S. government is increasingly able to identify and target those Chinese entities most responsible for religious freedom abuses against Uyghur and other Muslims,” noted USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “Communist China can no longer hide its religious freedom abuses from the world.”
In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF called for targeted sanctions against senior Chinese officials, included Chen Quanguo. Since 2017, the Chinese government has detained more than a million Uyghur, Kazakh, and other Muslims, often targeting individuals engaged in religious practices, such as growing beards or wearing veils.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at media@uscirf.gov or Danielle Ashbahian at dashbahian@uscirf.gov.