China dismisses Pompeo Uighur genocide claim as ‘outrageous lies’
Beijing, China - China on Wednesday dismissed Washington’s allegation that Beijing was committing genocide against Uighurs and other minorities as ‘outrageous lies’ and ‘poison’ in a rancourous epilogue to a combative period in relations between the superpowers.
Under the administration of outgoing President Donald Trump, the US has butted heads with China over trade, security, technology, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and rights from Hong Kong to Xinjiang, home to the Uighur minority.
In the dying days of Trump’s administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched his final broadsides against China.
America's top diplomat said Beijing’s sweeping incarceration of mostly Muslim minorities in the far western Xinjiang region amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity.
“We are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese partystate,” Pompeo said on Tuesday.
In a rebuttal typifying the strained language between the rivals, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing hit back on Wednesday, accusing Pompeo of fabricating ‘sensational false propositions’ throughout his term in office.
This file photo shows Chinese Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun speaking during a United Nations Security Council meeting, at the UN Headquarters in New York on August 20, 2019
Genocide had ‘ never happened in the past, is not happening now and will never happen in China’, spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in her last public joust with Pompeo, a regular target of the ministry’s anger throughout the Trump administration.
Rights groups say at least one million Uighurs and other Turkicspeaking Muslims have been incarcerated in camps in Xinjiang.
Independent access to the sensitive area is highly restricted, making reporting and verification
of the allegations near impossible.
But witnesses and activists say that China is seeking to forcibly integrate the Uighurs into the majority Han culture by eradicating Islamic customs, whilst imposing a regime of effective forced labour.
Pompeo’s vociferous criticism of Beijing has been a hallmark of his tenure, but he had earlier danced around directly alleging genocide - although he repeatedly stated his view the treat
ment of Uighurs was reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s policies.
Pompeo urged all international bodies including courts to take up cases over China’s treatment of the Uighurs and voiced confidence that the United States would keep raising pressure.
China denies wrongdoing and contends that its camps are vocational training centres meant to reduce the allure of extremism in the wake of attacks.