U.S. sanctions officials in China over persecution of Uyghurs and other minorities

Washington — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new visa restrictions on Chinese officials Monday for their actions to repress ethnic and religious minorities both inside and outside the country. In a statement, which provided no specific details on which officials would be targeted with the new sanctions, Blinken also reiterated a call for China to "end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity" in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang is in the grip of a years-long "anti-terrorism" campaign that has seen more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities detained in a sprawling network of "re-education" camps, according to rights groups.

Blinken noted that the visa restrictions would be focused on Chinese officials complicit in policies aimed at repressing religious and ethnic minorities, as well as other dissidents, human rights activists and journalists.