How top 2020 Democrats would respond to China’s mass detention of Uighur Muslims

A Biden campaign spokesperson said that, if elected, he would do both.

Did not respond to multiple requests for a comment.

Note: Harris is the only sitting Senator, apart from Michael Bennet, running for president in 2020 that did not cosponsor the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act.

“Like in so many areas, we need to think about the broad range of tools available to us. That includes diplomatic pressure on China, working it in with our economic negotiations, and working with our allies around the world and international communities and international organizations to highlight the problem,” Warren told Axios.

“I don’t think there is any one obvious answer that’s going to resolve this problem. It’s how we think of all the tools available to us, in order to move it in a better direction … The Trump administration has shown little interest in helping these people or in working with our allies to strengthen international standards that would protect them.”

A Warren campaign spokesman added that Warren is an original cosponsor of Uighur Human Rights Policy Act in the Senate, and that she signed a bipartisan letter to Trump administration officials in April urging greater export controls and Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese officials overseeing the Xinjiang policy. (Note: she was the only Senator running for president in 2020 to sign this).

“We would do everything that we can to prevent the kind of persecution that is currently happening,” Sanders told Axios.

Sanders’ campaign added that “a Sanders administration would use those tools [mentioned above] to put pressure on [sic] China over its abuse of its Uighur population, but would also work to build and mobilize an international consensus to push China to change its practices”

Note: Sanders was a cosponsor of Uighur Human Rights Policy Act in the Senate.

“China’s techno-authoritarianism, supported by China’s growing power and global influence, presents a long-term challenge to universal human rights, including freedom of religion, speech, conscience, and assembly. In particular, China’s digitally-enabled oppression of millions of Uighur Muslims—ultimately designed to erase their religious and ethnic identity—shocks the conscience,” a Buttigieg spokesman told Axios.

“A Buttigieg Administration would at a minimum (1) support adding to the Entity List not only firms that build internment camps and the camps’ surveillance technology, but also firms engaged in China’s broader campaign of oppression across Xinjiang, which includes an invasive home monitoring program as well as child separation; (2) use the Magnitsky Act to sanction not only those Chinese officials responsible for the camps, but also those responsible for administering the broader campaign of repression in Xinjiang; and (3) support annual reporting to Congress on China’s use of surveillance technology to persecute the Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities, as well as China’s export of such technology to other countries.

Reports that the White House is willing to stay silent and withhold sanctions in exchange for trade concessions are deeply troubling. America’s commitment to dignity and religious freedom must not be for sale.”

“Cory is deeply disturbed by the human rights abuses happening in China’s Xinjiang region and supports putting companies that build the detention camps being used and their surveillance system on the Commerce Department’s Entity List. He also supports using the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction the people who are running the camps, and has recently signed on as a co-sponsor of S. 178, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which requires a series of reports on China’s treatment of the Uighars, including reports from the State Department and the Director of National Intelligence, that would be used to determine whether certain individuals meet the criteria for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.”

Note: Booker was a cosponsor of Uighur Human Rights Policy Act in the Senate.

“Senator Gillibrand has taken a hard line against China’s human rights violations against Uighur Muslims and other Chinese Muslim communities,” Gillibrand’s press secretary told Axios.

“Senator Gillibrand has pressed the Trump Administration to update U.S. export controls to prevent China from using emerging American technology to commit human rights violations against Uighur Muslims, and she is committed to curtailing China’s ability to suppress its own citizens. As president, she will leverage national and international tools in an effort to end the tragedy in Xinjiang.”

Note: Gillibrand was a cosponsor of Uighur Human Rights Policy Act in the Senate.

“The government of the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to erase Uighur culture and identity, including through holding up to a million individuals in concentration camps, is morally reprehensible. The United States must speak up and hold those in China accountable for these practices,” Secretary Castro told Axios.

“I support placing foreign companies complicit in China’s oppression of Uighurs on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, preventing them from doing business with United States companies or individuals, and will ensure no American company benefits from forced labor in Xinjiang. I also support using the tools of the Global Magnitsky Act to sanction those running the camps.

We also need to ensure that U.S. tech companies do not support the government of China in its authoritarian ambitions. I was pleased to see today that Google terminated Project Dragonfly, a project they had undertaken to design a search engine that complies with Chinese censorship standards.”

The campaign did not respond to multiple requests for a comment.

Note: Klobuchar was a cosponsor of Uighur Human Rights Policy Act in the Senate.

The campaign declined to comment.