China bars US officials in tit-for-tat response over Xinjiang sanctions
Beijing said assets belonging to officials from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom would be frozen while Chinese institutions and citizens would be prohibited from dealing with them.
The foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the chair, vice chair and two commissioners would be excluded from entry.
China has blacklisted four members of a US federal commission on religious freedom in the latest tit-for-tat response to Washington's own sanctions targeting alleged perpetrators of "genocide" in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
''The four people, from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), would be banned from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau,'' foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday.
Their assets in China would also be frozen and Chinese institutions and citizens would be forbidden from dealing with them, Zhao said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
Zhao identified those targeted as chairwoman Nadine Maenza, deputy chairman Nury Turkel and members Anurima Bhargava and James Carr.
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US sanctions
The announcement came days after the US unleashed a volley of new actions that included a ban on virtually all imports from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region – a major global cotton producer – over forced labour allegations.
It has also recently blacklisted Chinese companies like drone maker DJI and artificial intelligence startup SenseTime over their alleged work with authorities in the region.
China denies such abuses and says its policies there help combat extremism.
The USCIRF is a federal government entity that evaluates and suggests policies for countries where religious freedom is deemed to be endangered.
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