(TibetanReview.net, Oct28’23) – Human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as individual cases of concern were among the large number of issues raised by US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken during his seven-hour meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Mr Wang Yi over Oct 26-27, according to State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.
The Secretary raised concerns about PRC human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as individual cases of concern, said a readout on the meeting posted on the State Department’s official website state.gov Oct 27.
The two sides were stated to have exchanged views on a wide-range of bilateral as well as regional and global issues.
“The two sides discussed the importance of working together to address other shared challenges, including climate, noting the importance of an ambitious outcome at the upcoming COP28, as well as global macroeconomic stability, food security, public health, and counternarcotics,” the readout said.
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Oct 27 also saw the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China issuing a statement saying that Biden administration officials who meet Wang “must raise the cases of Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans and other political prisoners unjustly detained in China.”
The day before, the two chairs of the commission wrote to three Biden administration cabinet members urging action, including possible Global Magnitsky sanctions, on mass biometric data collection and family separation in Tibet.
In their letter, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Wash.) asked Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to impose export controls on technology used by China’s Public Security Bureaus and other entities in Tibet to collect biometric data for political identification and racial profiling.
The letter added that action taken by the secretaries could include “Global Magnitsky sanctions or visa restrictions for officials in Tibetan areas for their complicity in mass biometric data collection and the forced separation of Tibetan children from their parents.”
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Meanwhile, US and Chinese officials have agreed in principle on a meeting next month between the two Presidents, though the two sides must still finalize the arrangements, reported bnnbloomberg.ca and other news outlets Oct 27.
In particular, rfa.org Oct 27 cited John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, as saying preparations were underway for the two heads of state to meet on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held in San Francisco over Nov 12-18.
The pair have met only once since Biden took office – last year in Bali, Indonesia – and Xi has not visited America since an Apr 2017 trip to then-President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the report noted.