China said on Sunday it was taking countermeasures against two Canadian institutions and 20 people involved in human rights issues concerning the Uyghurs and Tibet.
The measures, which took effect on Saturday, include asset freezes and bans on entry and the targets include Canada’s Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project and the Canada-Tibet Committee, China’s foreign ministry announces on its website.
Human rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses against the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority that numbers about 10 million in the western Xinjiang region, adding widespread use of forced hard labor in the fields. Beijing denies any abuse.
China took control of Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” from feudal serfdom. However, international human rights teams and exiles condemn what they call China’s oppressive regime in Tibetan areas.
For any of the institutions, China said it was freezing their “movable property, real estate and other types of assets in Chinese territory. ” It froze the assets in China of 15 other people from the Uyghur establishment and five members of the Tibet committee, prohibiting them from entering China, specifically Hong Kong and Macau.
Canada recently announced sanctions on several Chinese officials, citing “grave human rights violations.”
“Canada is deeply involved with human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet and opposes those who practice Falun Gong,” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement earlier this month.
Calls to the Canadian embassy in Beijing went unanswered. Reuters did not receive an immediate response from the rights groups or Global Affairs Canada.
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