Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared Tuesday (Jan. 19) that the Chinese Communist Party’s policy of persecuting Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region for human rights constitutes “crimes against humanity” and “genocide. These terms, which were previously used for groups such as the Nazis, were first used by the U.S. government against the Chinese Communist government.
In the statement, Pompeo said, “After carefully examining the available facts, I have determined that since at least March 2017, China, under the leadership and control of the Chinese Communist Party, has committed crimes against humanity (crimes against humanity) against the predominantly Muslim Uighur people, other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang.”
The statement noted, “After carefully examining the available facts, I have determined that China, under the leadership and control of the Chinese Communist Party, has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang. I believe the genocide is continuing and that we are witnessing a systematic attempt by the Chinese party-state to destroy the Uighurs.”
Since last year, the Trump administration has been steadily increasing pressure on Beijing, imposing sanctions on numerous Chinese Communist Party officials and companies for their activities in Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.
Five days ago, the U.S. government announced it would halt imports of cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang, as well as its manufactured goods including clothing and food, a move Customs and Border Protection officials announced would block imports of products suspected of forced labor from Xinjiang.
According to U.S. officials and human rights groups, the Chinese Communist Party has imprisoned more than 1 million people, including Uighurs and other major Muslim communities, in a vast network of concentration camps. As part of the assimilation campaign, detainees have been subjected to torture, sterilization and political indoctrination in addition to forced labor.
“Most of the “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” charges have been committed against internationally known dictators, including former Iraqi President Saddam and former Cambodian head of state Khieu Samphan, who carried out the Khmer Rouge massacre, and other crimes defined as “genocide” in more recent times, including the Nazi massacre of the Jews.
The genocide designation is a rare step for the U.S. government, and human rights groups believe Pompeo’s move is intended to lay the groundwork for the Communist Party of China to prosecute the U.S. for the equivalent of Nazi war crimes during the Nuremberg trials in World War II.
“We want to see the United States act decisively, act decisively,” said Grant Shubin of the Center for Global Justice, “where there is a risk of genocide, there is an obligation to act. Going forward, this appointment will inform U.S. foreign policy as a whole, and we hope to hear more from the incoming Biden administration about how it plans to follow this historic statement.”
Pompeo made the statement the day before the incoming Biden administration took office. Biden’s administration has yet to respond to it. On Tuesday (Jan. 19), Biden’s Treasury Secretary nominee, former Federal Reserve Chair Yellen, reiterated the Biden administration’s view that “Beijing is the most important strategic competitor of the United States” and announced her determination to combat “abusive, unfair and illegal behavior” by the Chinese side.
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