New Bill Expands Sanctions on China Abuses, Bans Military from Buying PRC Seafood, and Reviews ByteDance for Sanctions

The newly proposed Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act of 2025 is a massive overhaul of how the U.S. government deals with human rights abuses in China, particularly those targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. Think of this as the government stepping up its game, moving past general condemnations to hard-hitting actions that affect everything from the Pentagon’s lunch menu to who gets blocked from entering the U.S.

Expanding the Sanctions Net

If you thought sanctions were only for the people physically operating in China’s Xinjiang region, think again. This bill significantly expands the reach of the 2020 Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. Under Section 2, sanctions can now target individuals outside China who are still complicit in the abuses. More importantly, the list of sanctionable offenses now explicitly includes horrific acts like systematic rape, forced abortion, forced sterilization, and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal. This means the U.S. is signaling that these specific atrocities are now immediate triggers for financial and travel penalties. For foreign individuals or companies, this raises the risk profile significantly, as providing services or technology to anyone involved in these newly listed abuses can now land them in the crosshairs.

The 'You Can't Come Here' Rule and Its Loophole

Section 3 tightens the rules on who can enter the U.S. If you were involved in forced abortions or forced sterilizations overseas, the Secretary of State must now ban your entry. This is a subtle but important shift from ‘may not’ to ‘shall not’ ban, making the prohibition mandatory. However, the Secretary of State still holds the keys to the waiver kingdom. They can allow someone in if it's deemed necessary for national security interests or to meet international obligations. While this flexibility might be needed for diplomacy, it does create a potential loophole where a mandatory ban could be overridden if the Secretary decides the person is politically or strategically useful. It's the classic policy tension: strict rules versus necessary exceptions.

Checking the Fine Print on Tech Giants

One of the most concrete and immediate actions in this bill is found in Section 6, which puts seven specific Chinese entities—including ByteDance Ltd. (the parent company of TikTok) and several major surveillance technology firms like Hikvision and Dahua—under the microscope. The Treasury Secretary has a strict 60-day deadline to determine if these companies are involved in human rights abuses or meet existing sanctions criteria. If they do, they are immediately added to the blocked persons list, freezing their assets. For U.S. investors or businesses dealing with these specific tech giants, this 60-day clock is a serious warning sign that business relationships could be severed overnight.

No More PRC Seafood for the Troops

This is where the bill hits the Department of Defense (DoD) supply chain directly. Sections 12 and 13 prohibit the DoD from procuring or selling any seafood that originated or was processed in the People's Republic of China. This ban applies to military dining facilities, Navy ships, and even military grocery stores (commissaries). The goal is to ensure U.S. federal purchasing isn't inadvertently supporting forced labor in the Chinese seafood industry. While the Secretary of Defense can grant waivers for overseas bases if the ban causes an “undue burden”—say, a remote base struggling to find alternatives—this mandate will force military contractors and supply chains to quickly find new, verifiable sources for seafood. For the average service member, this means the supply chain for their dinner just got a lot more scrutinized.

Help for the Victims, Documentation for the Future

Beyond sanctions, the bill mandates real support. Section 4 authorizes funding for medical care, physical therapy, and psychological support for Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other oppressed ethnic groups who have escaped China and are now living abroad. This provides tangible relief for survivors. Separately, Section 11 requires the State Department to actively track information on detained family members of U.S. citizens and legal residents—like those of Radio Free Asia employees—so that these concrete cases can be raised directly in diplomatic discussions with Chinese officials. This moves the issue from abstract policy to specific names and faces, linking the persecution directly to American constituents.