US Xinjiang sanctions would prompt Chinese retaliation

Subject

'Re-education' camps in the Xinjiang region.

Significance

Reports of detentions of up to 1 million people, mostly ethnic Uighurs, at ‘re-education camps’ in China’s Xinjiang region have led to international condemnation. In Washington this has escalated to potential sanctions, with a bipartisan committee in Congress and senior administration officials suggesting that legislation called the Global Magnitsky Act should be used to put targeted sanctions on key Chinese officials and firms.

Impacts

• The direct impact of the sanctions is likely to be negligible and will not lessen the plight of Chinese citizens in Xinjiang.
• Beijing will be reluctant to respond to specific accusations, considering them internal affairs not for others to comment on.
• Western companies doing business with China, and Xinjiang in particular, will face potential sanction, public protest or shaming at home.
• Firms such as HikVision that have been identified as providing technical tools for repression in Xinjiang will be specific targets.
• Beijing's asymmetric retaliation may extend to US companies entirely unconnected with Xinjiang.