An official from China’s far west Xinjiang region accused former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday of trying to undermine Beijing’s relations …
An official from China’s far west Xinjiang region accused former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday of trying to undermine Beijing’s relations with new President Joe Biden by declaring that China’s actions against the Uighur ethnic group are “genocide.” Xu Guixiang, a spokesperson for Xinjiang’s Communist Party, spoke at a tightly controlled media briefing, the latest in a Chinese effort to counter Western accusations of rights abuses in the region. “Why is he putting on such a show, such a farce, telling the lie of the century?” Xu said. “He wants to plant land mines and set up obstacles to dialogue with the next U.S. administration.” Since 2016, China has swept a million or more Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities into prisons and indoctrination camps that the state calls training centers, according to estimates by researchers and rights groups. People have been subjected to torture, sterilization and political indoctrination in addition to forced labor as part of an assimilation campaign, according to former residents and detainees, as well as experts and leaked government documents. China denies any abuses and says the steps it has taken are necessary to combat terrorism and a separatist movement. The Biden administration is formulating its policies toward China, which many analysts see as America’s largest geopolitical challenge. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated on his first day in office that he believed genocide was being committed against Xinjiang’s ethnic minorities, signaling that Biden plans to continue some of former President Donald Trump’s tough stances against Beijing.
