By The Straits Times | Created at 2024-12-22 10:48:58 | Updated at 2024-12-22 15:58:19
5 hours ago
BEIJING – China said on Dec 22 it was taking countermeasures against two Canadian institutions and 20 people involved in human issues concerning the Uighurs and Tibet.
The measures, which took effect on Dec 21, include asset freezes and bans on entry.
The targets include Canada’s Uighur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee, China’s Foreign Ministry announces on its website.
Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uighurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers around 10 million in the western region of Xinjiang, including the mass use of forced labour in camps. Beijing denies any abuses.
China seized control of Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” from feudalistic serfdom.
International human rights groups and exiles, however, have routinely condemned what they call China’s oppressive rule in Tibetan areas.
For the two institutions, China said it was freezing their “movable property, immovable property and other types of property within the territory of China”.
It was freezing the property in China of 15 people in the Uighur institution and five on the Tibet committee, banning them from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macau. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
