Both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were just sanctioned by China in retaliation for them speaking out against the Communist country’s treatment of Turkish Uighurs:
POLITICO – The Chinese government on Monday leveled sanctions against top American officials, including a trio of congressional Republicans.
The sanctions followed the U.S. government’s move last week to impose its own penalties on three senior members of Beijing’s ruling Communist Party for alleged human rights abuses.
Announcing the “corresponding sanctions,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters the latest U.S. actions “seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs, seriously violate the basic norms of international relations and seriously damage Sino-U.S. relations.”
In her remarks, reported by Reuters, Hua also warned China would “make further responses based on how the situation develops.”
Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Smith and Sam Brownback can no longer go to China…
Beijing’s sanctions targeted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), as well as Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback and the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
The retaliatory measures come after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last Thursday the Trump administration would bar entry into the U.S. by Chen Quanguo, the communist party’s secretary of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwest China and a member of the Politburo; Zhu Hailun, party secretary of the Xinjiang political and legal committee; and Wang Mingshan, party secretary of the Xinjiang public security bureau.
Those travel restrictions were in response to the “unjust detention or abuse” of Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, in the western part of China, Pompeo said. In recent years, the Chinese government has detained an estimated 1 million or more ethnic Turkic minorities. Cruz, Rubio and Smith have been outspoken critics of China’s activities in Xinjiang.
Ted Cruz mocked the news a few minutes ago, saying “Bummer. I was going to take my family to Beijing for summer vacation, right after visiting Tehran.”
Bummer. I was going to take my family to Beijing for summer vacation, right after visiting Tehran. https://t.co/PXE7jZaZt1
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 13, 2020
LOL! Marco Rubio simply said “The Communist Party of #China has banned me from entering the country. I guess they don’t like me?”
The Communist Party of #China has banned me from entering the country.
I guess they don’t like me?
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 13, 2020