Congress authorises sanctions against China over Uighurs

The US Congress on Wednesday authorized sanctions against Chinese officials over the mass incarceration of Muslim Uighurs, ramping up pressure on another front in the troubled relationship between the Pacific powers. The House of Representatives voted with just one dissent in favor of the Uighur Human Rights Act, hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a major step to press China on another major issue -- the autonomy of Hong Kong. Rights groups say at least one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China's northwestern Xinjiang region have been incarcerated in camps in a massive brainwashing campaign with few modern parallels. China initially denied the mass incarceration but has since described the camps as vocational training centers aimed at discouraging Islamic radicalism. Trump can veto the legislation. But Congress could easily override his veto.