Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, center, Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, left, and Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong discuss the deportation of Uyghur refugees to China on February 27 and might be among those subject to U.S. visa restrictions announced Friday. Photo by Narong Sangnak/EPA-EFE
March 15 (UPI) — Foreign officials who enable the forced return of Uyghurs and other ethnic or religious groups to China face visa restrictions in the United States, Sec. of State Marco Rubio announced Friday.
“We are committed to combating China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China, where they are subject to torture and enforced disappearances,” Rubio said Friday in a prepared statement.
Rubio announced visa restrictions on current and former government officials in Thailand who are responsible for or complicit in the forced return of 40 Uyghurs from Thailand to China on Feb. 27.
“In light of China’s longstanding acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Uyghurs, we call on governments around the world not to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China,” Rubio said.
The U.S. Department of Labor says China has subjected Uyghurs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to “genocide, state-imposed forced labor and crimes against humanity.”
The People’s Republic of China has a Han majority and recognizes 55 other ethnic groups but subject Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslim minority groups to “abuse and discrimination” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and other parts of China.
“Uyghurs detained in camps and forced to work in factories must endure oppressive conditions,” the Labor Department says. “They receive little pay, are not allowed to leave and have limited or no communication with family members.”
When they aren’t working, Uyghurs are forced to learn the Mandarin language and “undergo ideological indoctrination,” the Labor Department says.
The Chinese coastal province of Fujian likewise subjects Uyghur workers to abuses, including forcing them to live in separate dormitories from Han workers.
The dormitories are surrounded by an iron gate and monitored by security cameras while Uyghurs are forced to work longer hours that Han workers.
“When finished for the day, the Uyghur workers are escorted back to their dormitories by provincial police officers from the XUAR – not Fujian,” the Labor Department says.
Local police conduct a roll call to ensure no Uyghur workers are missing.
The workers are not allowed to leave on their own free will and have had their identification materials confiscated by local police.
The Labor Department says China imposes forced labor in prisons, re-education centers and by forcing rural “surplus” laborers to work in factories.
China also provides companies with subsidies when they open facilities in XUAR and when they employ Muslim-minority workers.
“These practices heighten demand for members of Muslim and ethnic minority groups that the governments wants placed in work assignments where they can be controlled and watched, receive Mandarin-Chinese language training and undergo political indoctrination,” the Labor Department says.
Millions of mostly Muslim-minority populations, such as the Uyghurs, are subjected to such forced labor, according to the Labor Department.