US officials are considering whether to formally label as ldquogenociderdquo Chinas treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonom
U. S. officials are considering whether to formally label as “genocide” China’s treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where Chinese authorities have put as many as 1.8 million members of the Muslim minority group into reeducation camps, U. S. media said Wednesday. Beijing describes its three-year-old network of camps in the XUAR as voluntary “vocational centers” that provide job skills and combat extremism, but reporting by RFA and other media outlets shows that detainees are held against their will in poor conditions, where they are forced to endure inhumane treatment and political indoctrination. Talks about the possible genocide designation are now being held by officials at the State Department, National Security Council, and Department of Homeland Security but are “still at the early stages,” the online journal Politico said in an Aug.25 report, citing unnamed administration officials. “If there’s not enough consensus to use the term genocide, the administration could instead accuse the Chinese leadership of other atrocities, such as ‘crimes against humanity’ or ‘ethnic cleansing,’ Politico said. The United States has already hit out at Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghurs, with the administration of U. S. President Donald Trump recently sanctioning Chinese officials and business entities deemed responsible for the camps and for programs of forced labor and population control. The White House declined to comment on the reported genocide deliberations, but NSC Spokesman John Ullyot issued a statement listing recent U.
