Former adviser accuses Trump of approving Chinese concentration camps

Excerpts from a book by Donald Trump’s former national security adviser has alleged the US president approved of the mass detention of China's Uighur Muslims.

Newspapers published excerpts from the new book The Room Where it Happened by John Bolton, who also alleged Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping to go ahead with building the camps in Xinjiang.

Bolton accused Trump of seeking Xi Jinping's help to win re-election during a closed-door 2019 meeting too.

The United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps in the Xinjiang region.

The US State Department has accused Chinese officials of subjecting Muslims to torture, abuse "and trying to basically erase their culture and their religion."

China denies mistreatment and says the camps provide vocational training.

One of the main exile groups, the World Uyghur Congress, thanked Trump for signing legislation this week calling for sanctions over the repression of China's Uighur Muslims.

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The bill, which Congress passed with only one "no" vote, was intended to send China a strong message on human rights by mandating sanctions against those responsible for oppression of members of China's Muslim minority.

Trump signed for the law as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held his first face-to-face meeting since last year with China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi.

Trump issued a signing statement that some of the bill's requirements might limit his constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy so he would regard them as advisory, not mandatory.

The president did not hold a ceremony to mark his signing.

The Uighur law for the first time calls for sanctions on a member of China's powerful Politburo, Xinjiang's Communist Party secretary, Chen Quanguo, as responsible for "gross human rights violations”.

It also calls on US companies operating in Xinjiang to take steps to ensure they do not use parts made with forced labour.

With Reuters

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