As China releases a white paper on human rights persecution in Xinjiang, the United States is stepping up its efforts to pressure the Chinese Communist Party to address the issue of genocide. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on July 14 called for a sustained coalition of allies to oppose the genocidal threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party to the Uighurs and other communities in Xinjiang and to defend human dignity and freedom of faith.
China’s State Council Information Office released a 13,000-word white paper on July 14 on “Equal Rights for All Ethnic Groups in Xinjiang,” declaring that Xinjiang is currently “in the best development period in its history.
The white paper says that Xinjiang effectively guarantees the right to life, respects the protection of the right to freedom and safeguards the right to a fair trial; all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are equal in guaranteeing the political rights of citizens; Xinjiang attaches great importance to the work of women and children; from 2014 to 2020, the total number of employed people in Xinjiang will increase from 11,352,400 to 13,560,000; Xinjiang adheres to the principles of protecting the legal, stopping the illegal, curbing extremism, resisting infiltration and combating crime. Xinjiang adheres to the principles of protecting the legal, stopping the illegal, curbing extremism, resisting infiltration and fighting crime, and fully implementing the policy of freedom of religious belief.
The U.S. State Department responded to our inquiry by saying that the U.S. once again calls on the Chinese government to end its crackdown on ethnic minorities such as the Uighurs in Xinjiang, including by releasing all those arbitrarily detained in detention camps.
“Despite growing international condemnation and widespread evidence of forced labor, detention camps, torture, and sexual assault, the Chinese government continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. These atrocities cannot be ignored or denied. We will continue to work with our allies to hold the Chinese government accountable for the forced labor, genocide, and crimes against humanity it has committed against ethnic minorities, including the Uighurs in Xinjiang. The United States joins our allies around the world in calling for an immediate end to the Chinese government’s crimes and justice for the victims.”
Pelosi: U.S. loses all moral authority if it doesn’t speak out on Xinjiang
“All freedom-loving people have an urgent moral responsibility to stand up against human rights abuses, which is why the International Religious Freedom Act was passed with a high degree of bipartisan consensus in 1998, affirming the preservation of this right as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy …… ” said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at the International Religious Freedom Coalition (IRF) summit this Wednesday.
“Uighurs face an existential threat from Beijing that also poses a challenge to our conscience. We must continue to speak out. If the United States does not take a stand against human rights abuses in China in light of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to criticize human rights abuses anywhere in the world.”
The Chinese version of the Xinjiang White Paper says nothing about the arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and forced sterilization of millions of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities inflicted by the Chinese Communist Party. On July 12, the State Department released a report that again found that China had committed genocide against Uighurs in Xinjiang, and on July 13, the State Department and several other U.S. government agencies released an updated version of the “Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory Report.
In response to previous U.S. sanctions against Chinese photovoltaic companies, the Xinjiang government issued a statement on the 14th, demanding that the United States “immediately stop spreading the so-called ‘forced labor’ lies and false information, and immediately stop suppressing the egregious practices of the Xinjiang photovoltaic industry.”
Pompeo: End Genocide, Don’t Sacrifice Freedom of Faith Over Climate Issues
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends the International Religious Freedom Summit and emphasizes that international religious freedom is a cornerstone of U.S. diplomacy and a central element in confronting totalitarianism; and urges the Biden administration to do more.
“The determination of genocide is serious, not common, and not symbolic, but to prompt action. The Biden administration and many countries see the central issue in dealing with China as climate change, relegating religion to a secondary issue. This is unfortunate and, in my view, foolish. It would be a major mistake to make climate a priority and to allow religious persecution to worsen and spread around the globe.” Pompeo said that, as the American Founding Fathers foresaw, freedom of faith is fundamental, and once it is denied, totalitarian rule will take advantage of the situation.
In a speech just past the centennial of the Party, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that foreign forces “will surely break their heads in front of the great wall of steel built with flesh and blood by more than 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
“We should be the steel, we should be the backbone, we should be the opposing force against the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of our fellow human beings who are not far from us. Ending genocide will not be easy.” Pompeo responded that Xi’s message was simple: the CCP will not leave the Uighurs alone unless the United States unites the world against this persecution – a tragedy that can only be successfully ended by confronting, not pandering to, the CCP.
In its white paper on Xinjiang, the Chinese government says that between 2000 and 2020, the rate of hospital births during pregnancy and childbirth will increase from 59.69% to 99.82%. Whether and how people of all ethnic groups use contraception is a matter of individual and voluntary decision. However, according to German scholar Adrian Zenz, in 2019 Xinjiang authorities plan to force at least 80 percent of women living in the southern Xinjiang townships who are suitable for pregnancy to undergo “invasive contraceptive surgery. This would reduce the number of local minorities by about 2.6 million to 4.5 million over the next two decades.
Tursunay Ziyawudun, a survivor of Xinjiang’s concentration camps, choked back tears as she shared her testimony of being held in a camp for nearly a year in March 2018, where she was forced to sing red songs, watch propaganda films and pledge allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, while being beaten, forcibly sterilized and sexually assaulted.
“At one point they took me and a girl in her twenties. I can’t even remember which night it was. They raped the girl. Three Han Chinese policemen also raped me. They continued to take and rape the women in prison and do whatever they wanted. Some women were near death, some disappeared, some went crazy. When I think back on it, my heart bleeds as if there were daggers cutting through it. In America, I finally had the opportunity to speak the truth. I am not asking for sympathy, but a voice for those who did not survive …… I look forward to the world’s help and to everyone’s voice for the Uighurs.”
“The United States is committed to defending and advancing human rights, and religious freedom is an important part of U.S. diplomacy. Every day, personnel from the State Department’s International Religious Freedom Team work closely with diplomats around the world to work with local religious communities and civil society advocates to track threats, collaborate on responses, and find solutions.” At the summit, Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted the United States’ continued leadership in this area in recent years to effectively mitigate religious persecution in Sudan and Pakistan.
On July 13, Blinken has invited U.N. experts investigating racism and minority issues to make an official visit to the United States. The United States welcomed the adoption Tuesday of a resolution by the U.N. Human Rights Council to address systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent in the context of law enforcement.
“Responsible nations must not shy away from scrutiny of their human rights records; rather, they should acknowledge and intentionally improve.” In his statement, he urged all U.N. member states to work with the United States to confront the scourge of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.
Recent Comments