By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 14: The United States government on Friday announced sanctions against top Chinese government officials for “serious human rights abuse” in Tibet. Two high officials in the list are Wu Yingjie and Zhang Hongpo; Wu was China’s representative head in TAR from 2016 to 2021, whereas Zhang was China’s police chief in the Himalayan region from 2018.
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in a statement said that it has sanctioned over 40 individuals and entities in total, across nine countries connected to cases of corruption and rights violations, in part to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day and Human Rights Day.
Under Secretary of the Treasury, Brian E. Nelson said in the official statement, “Corrupt actors and human rights abusers both rely on deficiencies in the international financial system to perpetrate their activities. By exposing the egregious behaviour of these actors, we can help disrupt their activities, dismantle their networks, and starve them of resources.” The department accused former Tibet chief Wu of directing a policy of “stability” in Tibet which included serious violations including extrajudicial killings and mass detentions.
It further noted the continuous curbs on freedom of religion and culture inside Tibet, “Tibetans have been subject to serious human rights abuse in the TAR, including arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings, and physical abuse, as part of the PRC’s efforts to severely restrict religious freedoms.” The abuses under Wu’s tenure include forced sterilization, coerced abortion, restrictions on political freedoms, among others.
The sanctions are levied against the backdrop of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting with US President Joe Biden in Bali last month. The sanctions by the Biden administration were announced alongside similar measures taken against governments in Russia, North Korea, and Iran. The former US government under Trump sanctioned Chen Quanguo, the then Communist Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region (XUAR), the highest ranking Chinese official to be sanctioned by the US government.
