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WASHINGTON: The United States declared on Tuesday (January 19) that China is carrying out a genocide against Uighurs and other mostly Muslim people, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dramatically increased pressure on the widespread incarceration of minorities in Beijing. on your last full day in office.
“I believe this genocide is ongoing and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy the Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“We will not remain silent. If the Communist Party of China is allowed to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against its own people, just imagine what it will be encouraged to do to the free world in the not too distant future,” he said. said.
Pompeo’s vociferous criticism of Beijing has been a hallmark of his tenure, but before that he had danced outright alleging genocide, repeatedly saying that the treatment of Uighurs was reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s policies.
Pompeo urged all international bodies, including the courts, to take up cases on China’s treatment of Uighurs and expressed confidence that the United States will continue to increase pressure.
Human rights groups believe that at least one million Uighurs and other Turkish-speaking Muslims are imprisoned in camps in the western region of Xinjiang.
Witnesses and activists say China is trying to forcibly integrate Uighurs into the Han majority culture by eradicating Islamic customs, including forcing Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol, which are forbidden by their faith.
China denies wrongdoing and maintains that its camps are vocational training centers aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism after the attacks.
Members of the Uighur Muslim community hold banners as they demonstrate in December 2020 in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, which has become a major hub for Uighur exiles. (Photo: AFP / Bulent Kilic)
Unlike many Pompeo decisions seen as boxing in Joe Biden, the incoming president had called for more pressure on China on human rights with his campaign last year using the term genocide.
Antony Blinken, chosen by Biden to succeed Pompeo, agreed with the genocide determination and said in response to a question at his confirmation hearing: “That would be my judgment as well.”
Blinken and other Biden nominees vowed firm action against China, although Pompeo’s statement potentially allows the next administration to avoid the expected pushback from Beijing.
CULMINATION
Omer Kanat, executive director of the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, hoped that the genocide determination would lead to further steps such as the boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next year.
“The implications are enormous. It is unthinkable to continue ‘as always’ with a state that commits genocide and crimes against humanity,” he said in a statement.
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The Trump administration has already taken a series of steps to pressure China over its treatment of Uighurs, including blocking all imports of cotton from Xinjiang, one of the world’s leading producers of yarn used in textile manufacturing.
Pompeo, described this week by Beijing as a “praying mantis”, has had no qualms about criticizing China, but made the decision after a lengthy debate over the legal implications at home and abroad.
Previous administrations have been cautious when using the term. The George W. Bush administration described Sudan’s scorched earth campaign in Darfur as genocide, while the Barack Obama administration said the same about the mass killings of the extremist group Islamic State, the rape and enslavement of Christians, Yazidis. and other religious minorities.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum have called on the United States to declare that China is carrying out genocide against Uighurs, saying the evidence is becoming clearer.
In a study last year, German researcher Adrian Zenz found that China forcibly sterilized large numbers of Uighur women and pressured them to abort pregnancies that exceeded birth quotas. China denied the account, saying that Uighur women were freeing themselves from “extremism” by using contraceptives.
Pompeo in his statement called on China to “abolish its internment system, detention camps, house arrest, and forced labor” and “cease coercive population control measures, including forced sterilizations, forced abortion, control of the forced birth and removal of children from their homes. families “.
He also urged China to “end all torture and abuse” in custody and allow Uighurs and other minorities to emigrate.
