China has imposed sanctions on the United States over Xinjiang

 

 China has responded to growing pressure from the United States by imposing sanctions on four US officials, according to the Washington Examiner.

The restrictive measures were adopted in response to US sanctions imposed on Chinese leaders for human rights abuses.

 Sanctions will prevent four members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom - commission chairman Nadine Maenza, vice chairman Nuri Turkel and commissioners Anurima Bhargava and James Carr - from entering any part of China, freezing them all assets they may own there and will ban them from doing business with Chinese citizens and institutions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Liang said on Tuesday.

 "The United States must lift so-called sanctions and stop interfering in Xinjiang's affairs and China's internal affairs," he said. "China will provide additional answers in line with developments."

The sanctions are part of a diplomatic confrontation over China's treatment of Uighur Muslims and the United States' continued concern about the ethnic group. On December 10, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against many Xinjiang officials.