The United States condemns China's move to impose sanctions on former US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioner Johnnie Moore, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2021) The United States condemns China's move to impose sanctions on former US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioner Johnnie Moore, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
"The United States condemns the People's Republic of China's (PRC) sanctions on a former USCIRF commissioner," Blinken said in a statement on Thursday. "These sanctions follow the PRC's March retaliatory sanctions against two USCIRF commissioners as well as Canadian, UK, and European officials, academics, and organizations."
Blinken's announcement came the day after the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the sanctions on Moore, who was responsible for the latest report on international religious freedom.
Previously, the United States sanctioned Yu Hui, former office director of the Central Leading Group on Preventing and Dealing with Heretical Religions, of Chengdu, Sichuan Province on May 12, when the Department of State released its 2020 Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom.
Sanctions against Yu were introduced because of his role in the "arbitrary detention of Falun Gong practitioners for their spiritual beliefs," the US report said. China named Falun Gong as an evil cult and launched a campaign to root out its influence in the country in 1999.
