President Trump and Xi met at the G20 event in Japan last year.
Monday, June 22, 2020
UPDATimes - US President Donald Trump said he did not sanction Chinese officials over the detention of Muslim groups in Xinjiang because he is now in the "middle of a trade agreement".
Trump told the Axios news website that the "great deal" made him unable to impose "additional sanctions".
China reportedly detained about one million Uighurs and other ethnic groups in camps in Xinjiang for indoctrination and gave them punishment, but the country denied carrying out the persecution.
This problem arose after the former Trump official, John Bolton, wrote more in the book he wrote.
Bolton alleged that at last year's summit, Trump gave Chinese President Xi Jinping the green light to build camps in western China and Trump said it was "the right thing to do".
Trump has denied the allegations.
What did Trump say to Axios?
Trump said that in an interview last Friday, which was later published by the US news website on Sunday.
Axios wrote, when Trump was asked why he was delaying imposing further sanctions on Communist Party officials on the issue of Uighur camps, he said: "Yes, we are in the midst of a major trade agreement.
"And when you are in the middle of negotiations and then suddenly you begin to impose additional sanctions - we have done many things. I am charging tariffs on China, which is far worse than the sanctions you can think of."
In the ensuing trade war, the US imposed a tariff of more than $ 360 billion for Chinese goods and China retaliated with a tariff of more than $ 110 billion for US products before the "phase one" agreement was signed last January.
When Trump was asked why he did not use the Global Magnitsky Act - which was passed by Congress in 2016 to fight human rights violations - Trump said "there was nothing specifically mentioned to me [about it] with regard to China".
Axios also asked Trump about the allegations of Bolton, his former national security adviser, that he had asked President Xi to help him win the re-election, by means of China continuing to buy agricultural products from the US.
"No, not at all. What I say to everyone who deals with me, not just President Xi, is I want them to do business with this country [the US]. What's good for this country is good for me.
"But I didn't go around and say, 'Oh, help me in the election.' Why should I say that? "
What are the charges against China in Xinjiang?
Activists say China is trying to assimilate Muslim ethnic groups by force, by destroying their culture.
China says camps in the autonomous region are centers of vocational education targeting Islamic extremists.
A report in March said tens of thousands of Uighurs had been moved from Xinjiang to work in factories throughout China.
Chinese state media say the transfer of workers is voluntary.
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