China replaces Communist Party head of Xinjiang region

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- China has replaced the head of the Xinjiang region associated with alleged human rights abuses against ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims.

Ma Xingrui, governor of the Guangdong province, was appointed to replace incumbent Chen Quanguo as the Communist Party chief for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, Bloomberg and The Guardian reported, citing the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Chen, 66, was appointed party secretary of Xinjiang in 2016. He will move onto a new role, according to the report.

He was one of several top Chinese officials sanctioned by the United States in July 2020 over allegations they are contributing to the human rights abuses being committed against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Ma, 62, has a background in the aerospace industry and served as the party chief in Shenzhen from 2015 before becoming governor of Guandong.

The change comes ahead of what is expected to be a broader restructuring of the Communist Party ahead of its 20th congress in the fall.

It also comes after U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law, banning imports from the Xinjiang region unless the importer can prove they are not made with forced labor and imposing sanctions on foreign individuals who make use of forced labor.

China has been accused of detaining some 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in concentration camps.

The Chinese government, however, has vehemently denied the allegations, referring to the camps as training centers whose purpose is to stamp out extremism in the name of counterterrorism.

The Biden administration earlier this month announced a diplomatic boycottof the Beijing Olympics after declaring China's treatment of the Uyghur population as genocide in March.