CRUZ: 'Chinese Communist Party is terrified and lashing out' with sanctions against lawmakers

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that the Chinese Communist Party is “terrified and lashing out” by announcing sanctions against him, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith.

According to media reports, the Chinese government has taken “draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population.”

Cruz, Smith and Rubio, all Republicans, have been outspoken about human rights abuses in China, particularly against Uighur Muslims.

“The Chinese Communist Party is terrified and lashing out. They forced over one million Uighurs into concentration camps and engaged in ethnic cleansing, including horrific forced abortions and sterilizations,” Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement on Monday.

“These are egregious human rights atrocities that cannot be tolerated. Unfortunately for CCP leaders, I don’t have plans to travel to the authoritarian regime that covered up the coronavirus pandemic and endangered millions of lives worldwide,” he added.

Cruz also tweeted his reaction to the sanctions on Monday, writing, “Bummer. I was going to take my family to Beijing for summer vacation, right after visiting Tehran.”

In a tweet on Monday, Rubio wrote, “the Communist Party of #China has banned me from entering the country. I guess they don’t like me?”

Others officials that have been sanctioned include Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback.