Speaker Nancy Pelosi says US to hold China accountable for human rights abuses

In a statement, she said: "The Biden Administration’s coordinated sanctions on China are a strong and resounding step to hold China accountable for its barbaric atrocities against the Uyghur people.  These sanctions make absolutely clear that America and the international community stand as one to defend the rights and dignity of the Uyghur people from China’s abuse."

She said: "China’s persecution of the Uyghur people – including its imprisonment of more than one million people in labor camps and the torture and extrajudicial killings of many more – is an outrage that challenges the conscience of the world and that demands action"

She said the sanctions build on the steps taken by the United States Congress, on a bipartisan basis, to hold Beijing accountable, including last year’s passage of the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. 

"Congress will take further action on legislative initiatives including Chair Jim McGovern’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, Chair Deutch’s Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act and Congresswoman Wexton’s Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act," she said.

She said: "America, together with our allies, will continue to hold Beijing accountable for its campaign of human rights abuses, including those targeting the Tibetan people, people of Hong Kong and journalists, human rights lawyers and advocates on the mainland.  If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial issues, we lose all moral authority to speak out for human rights in any place in the world.”