U.S. Says China’s Repression of Uyghurs Is ‘Genocide’

WASHINGTON: January 19, 2021 –  The U.S. State Department declared on Tuesday that the Chinese government is committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its wide-scale repression of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in its northwestern region of East Turkistan (renamed Xinjiang by the CCP), including in its use of internment camps and forced sterilization, American officials said.

The move is expected to be the Trump administration’s final action on China, made on its last full day.

It is the culmination of a years-long debate over how to punish what many consider Beijing’s worst human rights abuses in decades.

Relations between the countries have deteriorated over the past four years, and the new finding adds to a long list of tension points.

Foreign policy officials and experts across the political spectrum in the United States say China will be the greatest challenge for any administration for years or decades to come, reports the NY Times on Tuesday.

“We thank the US Government, especially Secretary Pompeo for designating China’s atrocities against Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan as genocide,” said Salih Hudayar,Prime Minister of theEast Turkistan Government in Exile. “We are hopeful that this will lead to strong actions to end the genocide. We are hopeful that this will be the first significant step toward ending China’s occupation of East Turkistan and bringing justice and freedom to its people.”

“We continue to urge all governments across the world to follow suit and take action against China’s genocide,” Mr. Hudayar said.

The East Turkistan Government in Exile and many in the global East Turkistani – Uyghur diaspora have high expectations for the incoming Biden Administration to uphold their campaign promises to the Uyghurs but also to continue the tougher stance on China, especially over human rights and the atrocities happening in East Turkistan, initiated by the Trump Administration.

“We strongly encourage the incoming Biden Administration to urge U.S. allies across the world to recognize China’s atrocities in East Turkistan, and to Boycott the Beijing 2022 Olympics,” Mr. Hudayar said.  “The U.S. Government must take a more active approach to resolve the East Turkistan issue by formally recognizing East Turkistan as an Occupied Country and by treating it on par with Tibet.”

In late December, the outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered a review to determine if China’s atrocities against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan (what Beijing calls “Xinjiang”) constitute genocide.

Since China invaded and occupied East Turkistan in late 1949, it has been waging brutal colonization, genocide, and occupation campaign, said Mr. Hudayar.

In recent years millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples have been sent to concentration camps, prisons, and forced labor camps where they have been subjected to forced indoctrination, forced medication, rape, torture, organ harvesting, slave labor, and even death.

Hundreds of thousands of Uyghur and Turkic women have been forcibly sterilized. Over 3.7 million babies were forcibly aborted since 1979 due to China’s campaign to eradicate the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan.