Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020

• The U.S. House of Representatives approved a legislation calling for sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for oppression of Uyghur Muslims, sending the Bill to the White House for President Donald Trump to veto or sign into law.

• The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 is a bill in the United States Congress that would require various United States government bodies to report on the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, including internment in the Xinjiang re-education camps.

• It calls for sanctions against those responsible for repression of Uyghurs and other Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang province, where the United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps.

• It singles out the region’s Communist Party secretary, Chen Quanguo, as responsible for “gross human rights violations” against them.

• The Bill also calls on U.S. firms operating in Xinjiang region to ensure their products do not include parts using forced labour.

• Uighur: Until recently its population was mostly Uighur. Most Uighurs are Muslim and Islam is an important part of their life and identity. 

• The Uyghurs are a Turkic ethnic group who live in East and Central Asia. Uyghurs primarily practice Islam. Their language is related to Turkish, and they regard themselves as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations.
• They live primarily in the Xinjiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is a provincial-level autonomous region of China in the northwest of the country. It is the largest of China's administrative regions. 

Terminal High Altitude Area Defence-THAAD

• China has been objecting to the presence of the US THAAD missile defence system in South Korea.

• THAAD is an acronym for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, a transportable, ground-based missile defense system.
• THAAD is coupled with space-based and ground-based surveillance stations, which transfer data about the incoming missile and informs the THAAD interceptor missile of the threat type classification.
• THAAD is alarmed about incoming missiles by space-based satellites with infrared sensors.
• This anti-ballistic missile defense system has been designed and manufactured by the US company Lockheed Martin.
• It has been deployed in the South Korea, UAE, Guam, Israel and Romania. In South Korea, the THAAD missile defense system is operated by the US army stationed in its army base in Osan, South Korea.