US commission says China committed ‘genocide’ on Uighurs
WASHINGTON/SHANGHAI: China has possibly committed “genocide” in its treatment of Uighurs and other minority Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang, a bipartisan commission of the US Congress said in a report released on Thursday.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said new evidence had emerged in the past year that “crimes against humanity - and possibly genocide - are occurring”. The CECC also accused China of harassing Uighurs in the US.
China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centres” to stamp out extremism and give people new skills and which others have called concentration camps.
The UN says at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in Xinjiang. Faith leaders, activist groups and others have said crimes against humanity, including genocide, are taking place there. Beijing denies abuse accusations.
The CECC report called for a formal U.S. “determination on whether atrocities are being committed” in Xinjiang, and such a determination is required within 90 days of U.S. legislation passed on December 27.
Also on Thursday, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Chinese officials over Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea. The penalties are yet another Trump administration move that may make President-elect Joe Biden’s diplomacy with China more difficult when he takes office next week.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo announced the sanctions less than a week Inauguration Day, next Wednesday, in what is the latest in a series of US moves against China.
“The United States stands with Southeast Asian claimant states seeking to defend their sovereign rights and interests, consistent with international law,” Pompeo said. “We will continue to act until we see Beijing cease its coercive behaviour in the South China Sea.”
China’s 2020 GDP growth slowest in 4 decades: Poll
China’s economy grew last year at its slowest pace since transformative market reforms of the 1970s, according to an AFP poll of economists, but finished the year strongly on an accelerating coronavirus recovery.
The average forecast of analysts from 13 financial institutions was a 2% expansion for the world’s second-largest economy, down sharply from 6.1% in 2019, itself a three-decade low.
In another development, shares in Xiaomi collapsed on Friday after the US blacklisted the smartphone giant and a host of other Chinese firms.
With just six days to go before President Donald Trump leaves office, US officials made a series of announcements targeting Chinese firms including state oil giant CNOOC, Xiaomi and embattled social media favourite TikTok. Xiaomi was one of nine new firms classified by the Pentagon as “Communist Chinese military companies”.