Human Rights

US senators declare China's campaign against Muslims in Xinjiang 'genocide'

Salaam Times and AFP

This 2019 photo shows the Chinese flag behind razor wire at a housing compound in Xinjiang, where authorities are committing 'genocide' against Muslims. [Greg Baker/AFP]

This 2019 photo shows the Chinese flag behind razor wire at a housing compound in Xinjiang, where authorities are committing 'genocide' against Muslims. [Greg Baker/AFP]

WASHINGTON -- US senators brought forth a resolution Tuesday (October 27) declaring that the Chinese regime is committing genocide against Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims, a step that could ramp up pressure on behalf of the estimated one million-plus people in camps.

The resolution was introduced by senators across the political spectrum.

The Chinese campaign "against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region constitutes genocide", according to the text.

"This resolution recognises these crimes for what they are and is the first step toward holding China accountable for their monstrous actions," said Senator John Cornyn, a Republican who sponsored it.

The resolution will show that the United States "can't stay silent", said Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat.

"China's assault on Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups -- escalating surveillance, imprisonment, torture and forced 're-education camps' -- is genocide, pure and simple," Merkley said.

More than 1 million locked up

More than one million Muslims languish in camps in the Xinjiang region as Beijing attempts to forcibly integrate the community and root out its Islamic heritage.

Beijing has denied the numbers and describes the camps as vocational centres that teach skills to prevent the allure of Islamic radicalism.

Chinese actions "remind us of what happened in the 1930s in Germany", said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview October 17 with news site The Print on a visit to India.

"This would be a very strong, bipartisan message that the US government cares about the state of the Uighur people, even and especially when the Chinese Communist Party does not," said Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Fitting the definition of genocide

The United Nations convention on genocide, drafted in the aftermath of the Holocaust, obligates states to prevent and punish the "odious scourge".

It defines genocide to include actions such as killing as well as preventing births "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Beijing has forcibly sterilised large numbers of Uighur women and pressured them to abort pregnancies that exceed birth quotas, a data-driven study by German researcher Adrian Zenz found.

In September, an investigative report detailed how Chinese authorities have destroyed almost 16,000 mosques in Xinjiang in recent years as part of their efforts to root out Islamic culture from the Communist Party-run nation.

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When an American senator speaks about the Chinese government’s oppression and cruelty against the Chinese Muslims, then why no American official has been found so far to ask why Israel is oppressing on the Muslims of Palestine and why it grabbed and is grabbing the lands of the people of Palestine? It is because China is America's rival, so America wants China to be defeated by the Muslims just the same way as Russia was defeated by the Afghans. Therefore, when America considers itself to be the world’s superpower, then it must be realistic, and defend the rights of all the oppressed people of the world whether they are infidels or Muslims. Why didn't America criticize the genocide of Burma’s Muslims by the military troops of that country? Why didn't America put pressure on India which trampled the rights of Muslims in that country and deprived them of their rights? America is a hypocrite.

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Thanks again Salaam Times for an interesting article! Thanks also to Senators Jeff Merkley & John Cornyn; Secretary Mike Pompeo; Miss Olivia Enos; & the Adrian Zenz found. Xinjiang, or Easter Turkestan has all the logic reasons & necessary elements to develop a predisposition to turn into a new foothold for Da'esh. Plz, USA, help the oppressed people in Xinjiang, and in the rest of China. While endorsing US anti-RICH policy, I can't help reiterating that it was not wise on the part of US to concentrate this much on anti-regime Muslim so-called extremist element in the ME. Who benefitted from it? Russia, China, & Iran. While keeping a never-sleeping eye on those really or so-called extremist anti-regime Muslim movements, one should not forget that the real greater danger arises from the said troika. Once, again, thanks Salaam Times for very interesting articles in Dari, English, & Pashto. God blesss you! Hamed

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If Allah is willing, Taliban will chase China and Chinese and will take revenge of all the Muslims in China. The Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan where infidel systems are governing and they are under the influence of infidel countries, cannot take advantage of their Muslim brothers and sisters in China. Leaders of these countries are all slaves of the West and Russia. They cannot make independent decisions without permission of their bosses. Their internal and external policies are not independent. For this reason, an independent and Islamic system need to be formed in Afghanistan in order to ask for the rights of Afghans as well as for the rights of Muslims of other countries. Ahmad Shah Abdali used to defend the Muslims in India, and there he was making sacrifices, but unfortunately officials of the current system cannot defend even Muslims of their own country, and when so, how will they defend Chinese Muslims.

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