: China blasts Mike Pompeo over accusation of genocide in Xinjiang #IndiaNEWS #International Beijing: An official from Chinas far west Xinjiang region accused former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

China blasts Mike Pompeo over accusation of genocide in Xinjiang #IndiaNEWS #International
Beijing: An official from Chinas far west Xinjiang region accused former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Monday of trying to undermine Beijings relations with new President Joe Biden by declaring that Chinas actions against the Uighur ethnic group are ‘genocide’.
Xu Guixiang, a spokesperson for Xinjiangs 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 labour 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 Americas 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 Xinjiangs ethnic minorities, signaling that Biden plans to continue some of former President Donald Trumps tough stances against Beijing.
Over the course of two hours, Xu and others, including an imam and former center “trainees,??? took turns denying forced sterilization, forced labour, restrictions on religion and other allegations.
They did not name Biden or Trump and instead trained their ire at Pompeo. Xu called him “hysterical,??? a “rat??? and “the worst secretary of state in history. ???
Pompeo said one of the main reasons for the genocide designation was widespread forced birth control among the Uighurs, which The Associated Press documented last year as well as researcher Adrian Zenz.
Another reason he cited was forced labour. AP reporters found that Uighur workers at OFILM, an Apple supplier nearly 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Xinjiang in the eastern city of Nanchang, were not allowed to leave their factory compound freely and could only come out on rare, chaperoned trips.
Asked about OFILM, Xinjiang government spokesperson Elijan Anayat said that workers were employed voluntarily and that their labour rights were protected.

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