WASHINGTON 4 Dec (ANA) - The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to counter what it calls the "arbitrary detention, torture, and harassment" of Uighur Muslims in China.

It calls for "targeted sanctions" on members of the Chinese government - and names the Communist Party secretary in the Xinjiang autonomous region, Chen Quanguo.

The bill still needs approval from the Senate and from President Donald Trump.

China reacted angrily, calling it a "gross interference".

But Uighur rights groups welcomed the passage of the bill, which they said sent an important message to China. 

The Uighur Human Rights Policy Act 2019 bill was passed by 407 to 1 in the House of Representatives on Tuesday night.

Its passage comes days after Mr Trump signed into law a bill that supports pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong - also leading to condemnation from China.

The BBC's China correspondent John Sudworth said - if it became law - the bill would mark the most significant international attempt to pressure China over its mass detention of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.

The purpose of the bill is "to address gross violations of universally recognised human rights, including the mass internment of over 1,000,000 Uighurs". 

It also accuses China of "systematically discriminating" against Uighurs by "denying them a range of civil and political rights, including the freedoms of expression, religion, movement and a fair trial". 

The bill details some of the policies allegedly carried out by China against Muslims in Xinjiang. 

These include:

Pervasive, high-tech surveillance - including the collection of DNA samples from children

The use of QR codes outside homes to gather information on how frequently individuals pray

Facial and voice recognition software and "predictive policing" databases

The Uighur bill calls for sanctions on Chinese officials who are "credibly alleged to be responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang". 

It also names Mr Chen, who has been dubbed the "architect" of the camps.(ANA)

FA/ANA/4 December 2019------