The US on Monday announced sanctions on two more Chinese officials in connection with serious human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, where Washington says ethnic Muslims like the Uighurs are the victims of genocide.

The US treasury department named the officials as Wang Junzheng, secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB).

The two were targeted under the US Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, it said, adding that the move complemented actions taken by the EU, Britain and Canada.

While the actions by the US and others avoided targeting China’s top leadership, it was the first coordinated move under the Biden administration, which took office in January and has vowed to work closely with allies in pushing back against China.

The move follows two days of “tough and direct” talks between US and Chinese officials last week in Alaska, which laid bare the depth of tensions between the world’s two largest economies at the outset of the Biden administration.

“Amid growing international condemnation, (China) continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who took part in last week’s talks, said in a statement while calling on Beijing to end the repression of Uighurs and other minority groups. Monday’s moves block US-linked assets of the individuals.

Washington imposed sanctions on Xinjiang’s Communist Party secretary Chen Quanguo, a member of China’s powerful Politburo, and five other officials in July.

Canadian trial

The trial of Canadian Michael Kovrig, who has been held in China for more than 2 years on spying charges, wrapped up in a closed Beijing court on Monday, with the verdict to be announced at a later date.