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Mike Pompeo says China’s policies on Muslims in Xinjiang amount to ‘genocide’

<p>A file picture of Mike Pompeo</p> (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A file picture of Mike Pompeo

(POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Mike Pompeo has imposed new sanctions on China after he declared the country’s policies on Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang constitute a “genocide”.

The US secretary of state made the determination just 24 hours before president-elect Joe Biden takes office.

The move is the latest in a series of steps the outgoing Donald Trump administrations has taken against China.

Mr Pompeo said in a statement: “After careful examination of the available facts, I have determined that since at least March 2017, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has committed crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other members of ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.”

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He accused the PRC of numerous crimes including forced labour, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, forced sterilisation and the imposition of “draconian restrictions on freedom of religion”.

“I have determined that the PRC, under the direction and control of the CCP, has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang,” said the secretary of state in his statement.

“I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state.”

Mr Pompeo said the US is calling on the PRC to immediately release all detained persons and abolish its system of internment and detention camps.

A guard tower and barbed wire fence surround a detention facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region (file photo) AP
A guard tower and barbed wire fence surround a detention facility in the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region (file photo) AP

Since last year Mr Trump’s administration has imposed sanctions on numerous officials and companies for their activities in Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

These penalties became more severe at the start of 2020 when Mr Trump and Mr Pompeo accused China of trying to cover up the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, Mr Pompeo lifted restrictions on US diplomatic contacts with Taiwanese officials, prompting a stern rebuke from China, which regards the island as a renegade province.

Five days ago, the administration announced it would halt imports of cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang with Customs and Border Protection officials saying they would block products from there suspected of being produced with forced labour.

Xinjiang is a major global supplier of cotton, so the order could have significant effects on international commerce.

The Trump administration has already blocked imports from individual companies linked to forced labour in the region, and the US has imposed sanctions on Communist Party officials with prominent roles in the campaign.

China has imprisoned more than a million people, including Uighur Muslims and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, in a vast network of concentration camps, according to US officials and human rights groups.

People have been subjected to torture, sterilisation and political indoctrination in addition to forced labour as part of an assimilation campaign in a region whose inhabitants are ethnically and culturally distinct from the Han Chinese majority.

China has denied all the charges. China says its policies in Xinjiang aim only to promote economic and social development in the region and stamp out radicalism. It also rejects criticism of what it considers its internal affairs.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.

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