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China writes to Senator Josh Hawley and attacks its ‘arrogant’ legislation that would have personally sanctioned Xi Jinping
- sen. Josh Hawley unveiled legislation targeting Xi Jinping last week
- It proposes sanctions for the Chinese leader over the treatment of Uyghurs
- The Chinese embassy responded with an angry 800-word email
- It accused him of smearing China and demanded that it be revoked
- “Senator Hawley’s action… is arrogant and despicable,” the paper read
- He hit back with a cheeky tweet: ‘Somebody’s sensitive’
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China sent an outraged email to Senator Josh Hawley denouncing its attempt to punish President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese Communist Party officials, it emerged Thursday.
Hawley last week unveiled legislation that would impose global penalties for their role in the Uyghur genocide.
A senior official at the Chinese embassy in Washington responded Monday with an 800-word email, accusing the Republican senator of “ideological bias” and spreading “defamation.”
“I am reaching out to express China’s strong outrage and serious concern about Senator Hawley’s new law ‘Sanction Xi Jinping for the Xinjiang Atrocities Act,'” Li Xiang wrote in the email obtained by axios.
Filled with ideological bias, this bill not only grossly interferes with China’s internal affairs, but also points the finger at China’s top leadership in the 20th century. [Communist Party of China] National Congress.
“Senator Hawley’s action in disregarding global resistance is arrogant and despicable.”
He demanded that the law be repealed, but Hawley scoffed at the reprimand.
The Chinese embassy expressed anger after Senator Josh Hawley unveiled legislation to impose sanctions on President Xi Jinping for oppressing the Uyghur people in Xinjiang
The 800-word email was sent by Li Xiang at the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC
Hawley responded to the letter on Twitter saying he would not withdraw the bill
“Someone is sensitive: After I proposed to personally punish Xi for the CCP’s genocide against the Uyghurs, Beijing lost its marbles, called the Uyghurs terrorists and demanded that I withdraw the bill,” he wrote on Twitter.
‘Not going to happen.’
The report illustrates how Beijing’s foreign diplomatic corps has stepped up its defenses against Xi since he tightened his grip on power at the congress.
He will rule for at least another 10 years.
With a steady stream of anti-Chinese bills flowing through Congress, the embassy picked one that mentions Xi by name.
When unveiling his bill last week, Hawley accused Xi of hoping the world would keep a close eye on his regime’s crimes.
“But we shouldn’t look away,” he said.
“We must hold Xi and his lieutenants accountable for their crimes against humanity and we can begin to impose real charges for their complicity in the atrocities in Xinjiang.”
Beijing has vehemently rejected claims of abuse against Uyghur Muslims in internment camps (pictured), stressing that it has vocational training centers in Xinjiang designed to counter extremism
The bill would target Xi and other officials, freezing their assets and banning them from traveling to the US
Rights groups accuse the Chinese government of serious human rights violations against the largely Muslim Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called it a genocide since last year.
China argues that its Xinjiang measures are intended to prevent terrorism.
“The issues regarding Xinjiang are not about ethnicity, human rights or religion, but about anti-terrorism, anti-separatism and deradicalisation,” Li said in the email.
“From the 1990s to 2016, Xinjiang has witnessed thousands of violent terrorist attacks.”
They stopped as soon as the government took action, he said.
“The so-called ‘genocide’ is an outright lie,” he continued.
“Over the past 70 years, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang has grown from 2.2 million to more than 12 million.”