Report: sharp decline in Xinjiang birth rates

BEIJING: Coercive policies in China’s western region of Xinjiang have led to a sharp decline in birth rates for Uighurs and other minorities, which could add to evidence of genocide, an Australian think tank said in a report released yesterday.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) report, citing official Chinese data, says there has been an ‘‘unprecedented and precipitous drop in official birthrates in Xinjiang since 2017’’, when China began a campaign to control birth rates in the region.

Xinjiang’s birth rate dropped by nearly half from 2017 to 2019, and counties where the population is predominately Uighur or another minority group had much sharper declines than other counties, the governmentfunded institute’s report says.

China maintains that changes in birth rates are linked to improved health and economic policy, and it strongly rejects accusations of genocide.

ASPI ‘‘fabricates data and distorts facts,’’ Chinaese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday.

The ASPI analysis is based on Chinese government data, including regional population figures released in March.

‘‘Our analysis builds on previous work and provides compelling evidence that Chinese government policies in Xinjiang may constitute an act of genocide,’’ the group said.

The ASPI report found birth rates in counties with a 90% or greater indigenous population declined by an average of 56.5% from 2017 to 2018, far more than other regions in Xinjiang and China during the same period.

Fines, internment, or the threat of internment were among the methods used by authorities to discourage births, it said.

There have been growing calls among some Western states for an investigation into whether Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide.

The United States Government and parliaments in countries including Britain and Canada have described China’s policies in Xinjiang as genocide.

According to the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, there would need to be proof of intent by Beijing to destroy an ethnic population in part to meet that determination.