New Hawley bill to personally sanction Xi over complicity in Uyghur genocide

WASHINGTON — Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced he will be introducing new legislation to personally sanction Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with his top lieutenants in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), over their complicity in the Uyghur genocide in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Senator Hawley said, “While Joe Biden is distracted, Xi Jinping is rapidly consolidating power within the Chinese Communist Party, power he intends to use to compel the world to turn a blind eye to the crimes of his regime. But we must not look away. We must hold Xi and his lieutenants accountable for their crimes against humanity and we can start by imposing real costs for their complicity in the atrocities in Xinjiang.”

Senator Hawley’s bill would impose Global Magnitsky Sanctions on President Xi and other CCP officials—freezing their assets and barring them from traveling to the U.S.—and direct the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to file regular reports identifying CCP officials complicit in the perpetration of genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.

Senator Hawley’s Sanction Xi Jinping for Xinjiang Atrocities Act does the following:

• Affirms that General Secretary Xi Jinping is complicit in the genocide and other crimes against humanity perpetrated against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
• Calls for General Secretary Xi and other senior Chinese Communist Party officials to be held accountable for their roles in the genocide and other crimes against humanity perpetrated against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
• Directs the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, to file regular reports identifying senior Chinese Communist Party officials who directed, oversaw, monitored, or were otherwise complicit in the perpetration of genocide and other crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
• Directs imposition of Global Magnitsky Sanctions on senior Chinese Communist Party officials identified as having directed, overseen, monitored, or otherwise been complicit in the perpetration of genocide and other crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.