By Liu Xin/Fan Lingzhi
US President Donald Trump signed the Uygur bill on Wednesday, claiming to protect human rights in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region thousands of miles away from the White House. Wednesday is the last day before the legislation takes effect automatically. On the same day, China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Hawaii as tensions escalated between the two countries.
The bill will add difficulty to the strained China-US ties. Trump purposely picked the date for the bilateral talk, initially hoping to impose pressure and trade for more bargaining chips. The move also showed that the US would not change its tough policies toward China, experts said.
The Uygur bill, which was first put forward by Senator Marco Rubio, was passed by the US Senate and House of Representatives on May 14 and 27, respectively. According to information from the website of the US Congress, the legislation was presented to Trump on June 8.
If Trump does not sign it into law or veto it within 10 days, the bill becomes law without his signature. The legislation requires the US government to impose more pressure on China over Xinjiang issues and offer a report to Congress within 180 days of its enactment to list Chinese officials to be sanctioned by the US, US media reported. China urges the US side to immediately correct its mistake and stop using the Xinjiang-related act to harm China’s interests and interfere in its internal affairs. Otherwise, China will resolutely take countermeasures and the US must bear all the consequences, Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement released Thursday.
Trump signed the bill the last day before it automatically becomes law and wanted to use the slow action of the Uygur bill as a bargaining chip against China along with other anti-China cards, including the Phase I trade deal to contain China, Zhu Ying, deputy director of the Human Rights Institute at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times. Trump signed the Uygur bill without any ceremony, issuing a statement in which he said a sanctions provision intruded on executive authority and he would regard it as non-binding, US media reported.
Zhu said that these details showed that Trump is trying to find a balance with the US Congress he had to sign the bipartisan bill, but also wants to cool tensions with China. Trump may seek advice from White House lawyers on how to sign the bill without provoking China.–The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
