US imposes visa bans on certain Huawei workers

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - The US imposed Wednesday visa restrictions on certain employees of Huawei tech company over the human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Xinjiang, northwest China.

"Companies impacted by today's action include Huawei, an arm of the CCP’s surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China," State Secretary Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

"Certain Huawei employees provide material support to the CCP regime that commits human rights abuses," Pompeo added.

The secretary did not make public the identities of individuals who were barred from entering the US.

"Telecommunications companies around the world should consider themselves on notice: If they are doing business with Huawei, they are doing business with human rights abusers," said the top diplomat.

Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45% of Xinjiang’s population, has long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

Up to 1 million people, or about 7% of the Muslim population in Xinjiang, have been incarcerated in an expanding network of "political re-education" camps, according to US officials and UN experts.