Washington | The Trump administration is considering sanctions against Chinese senior officials and companies to punish Beijing's detention of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uighurs and other minority Muslims in large internment camps, according to current and former US officials.

The economic penalties would be one of the first times the Trump administration has taken action against China because of human rights violations. US officials are also seeking to limit American sales of surveillance technology that Chinese security agencies and companies are using to monitor Uighurs throughout northwest China.