US hasn’t ruled out sanctions on China as it pushes ‘religious freedom agenda’ with Beijing, American envoy says
- Sam Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for religious freedom, says he hopes to work with Beijing to develop an action plan
- ‘There are tools’ to compel compliance, Brownback says, though he would not say whether the US would enact sanctions.
The US envoy responsible for religious freedom urged China on Friday to correct its religious policies while noting the possible sanctions available if Beijing fails to end violations of religious freedom.
Sam Brownback, the Trump administration’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, criticised the Chinese government for being “at war with faith”, citing its worsening persecution in Xinjiang of Uygur Muslims and other faith groups.
“The US feels very strongly about it and is aggressively pushing for the religious freedom agenda [with China],” said Brownback in an interview with the South China Morning Post during a trip to Hong Kong.
Despite growing pressure from the US Congress and civil groups, however, Brownback sidestepped questions about whether the Trump administration would impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for religious persecution.
“It would be inappropriate for me to characterise internal discussions other than [saying] there are tools that exist,” he said.
