China ‘forcing birth control on Uighurs to cut population’

THE Chinese government is allegedly taking forceful measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities to curb its Muslim population, according to a report on aggressive birth control policies in Xinjiang province.

The report by Prof Adrian Zenz, an independent contractor with the nonprofit Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, prompted a coalition of politicians to call for an independent UN investigation into human rights abuses there.

Prof Zenz’s research suggests the sudden fall in Uighur birth rates coincides with reports of a Chinese state policy of intrusive birth prevention, including female sterilisation.

The Interparliamentary Alliance on China – a cross-party international group of politicians, including Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory MP, and Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws QC, the Labour peer – cited “mounting evidence” of alleged “mass incarceration, indoctrination, extrajudicial detention, invasive surveillance, forced labour, and the destruction of Uighur cultural sites,” as the basis for UN action.

“This may indicate that the Chinese government is pursuing and enforcing a coordinated policy to reduce the population of minority groups,” it added.

Prof Zenz said population growth rates fell by 84 per cent in the two largest Uighur prefectures between 2015 and 2018, declining further in 2019.

He added that “documents bluntly mandate that birth control violations are punishable by extrajudicial internment in ‘training’ camps” and “reveal plans for a campaign of mass female sterilisation in rural Uighur regions, targeting married women of childbearing age”.