US imposes sanctions on Chinese 'state-within-a-state' linked to Xinjiang abuses

• Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps assets frozen
• Pompeo: China's treatment of minorities is stain of the century'

The United States has imposed sanctions on a major economic and paramilitary organization with vast interests in China's north-western region of Xinjiang, accusing it of facilitating widespread abuses against Uighur Muslims.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has been seen as a state within a state, running its own towns, universities and media geared overwhelmingly toward China's Han ethnic majority.