US places visa curbs on some Chinese officials for alleged abuse

THE Biden administration imposed visa restrictions on some Chinese officials for alleged human-rights abuses, while Beijing sanctioned six US companies for involvement in an arms sale to Taiwan.

Washington’s move was linked to the “repression of marginalised religious and ethnic communities,” the State Department said in a statement on Friday (Jul 12), without identifying the officials or giving details. A spokesman cited “genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, the erosion of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, persistent human rights abuses in Tibet.”

Separately, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday that the US companies’ weapons sales to Taiwan “seriously violates the one-China principle,” interferes in the country’s internal affairs and undermines its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The China-based assets of the six firms – Anduril Industries, Maritime Tactical Systems, Pacific Rim Defense, AEVEX Aerospace, LKD Aerospace and Summit Technologies – would be frozen and some executives denied entry to the country, it said.

The friction between the two countries came at the end of a week in which Washington renewed its criticism of Beijing’s support for Russia amid the war in Ukraine. President Joe Biden said that European allies were prepared to cut investment in Asia’s largest economy if Beijing kept up its support for Moscow. BLOOMBERG