‘China’s policies will affect Uighur births’

Chinese birth control policies could cut from 2.6-4.5 million births of Uighur and other ethnic minorities in southern Xinjiang within 20 years, up to a third of the region’s projected minority population, according to an analysis by a German researcher.

The report, shared exclusively with Reuters ahead of publication, also includes a previously unreported cache of research produced by Chinese academics and officials on Beijing’s intent behind the birth control policies in Xinjiang, where official data shows birthrates have already dropped by 48.7% between 2017 and 2019.

Adrian Zenz’s research comes amid growing calls among some western countries for an investigation into whether China’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide, a charge Beijing vehemently denies.

The research by Zenz is the first such peer reviewed analysis of the long-term population impact of Beijing’s multi-year crackdown in the western region. Rights groups, researchers and some residents say the policies include newly enforced birth limits on Uighur and other mainly Muslim ethnic minorities, the transfers of workers to other regions and the internment of an estimated one million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in a network of camps.

Beijing vents ire over US senators’ visit to Taiwan

The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday said it had lodged “solemn representations” with the US after American senators visited Chinese-claimed Taiwan.

Three US senators visited the self-ruled island on Sunday and announced that Washington would donate 750,000 coronavirus vaccine doses to Taiwan.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Monday lashed out at the visit, saying it violated the one-China policy.