By Washington: The U.S. national security adviser said on Friday that China was perpetrating “something close to” a genocide with its treatment of Muslims in its Xinjiang region.
“If not a genocide, something on the brink of it happening in Xinjiang,” Robert O’Brien told a web event hosted by the Aspen Institute, while highlighting other Chinese crackdowns including one on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.
The us has denounced China’s treatment of Uighur and other minority Muslims in Xinjiang and imposed sanctions on officials it blames for abuses. It has not, though, thus far termed Beijing’s actions genocide, a designation that might have significant legal implications and need stronger action against China.
The United Nations estimates that quite 1,000,000 Muslims are detained in Xinjiang and activists say crimes against humanity and genocide are happening there. China has denied any abuses and says its camps within the region provide vocational education and help fight extremism.
O’Brien referred to seizures by U.S. customs of “massive numbers” of hair products made with human hair from Xinjiang.
“The Chinese are actually shaving the heads of Uighur women and making hair products and sending them to the us ,” he said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in June it had detained a shipment originating in Xinjiang of hair products and accessories suspected of being forced-labor products made with human hair.
In June, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo labeled as “shocking” and “disturbing” reports that China was using forced sterilization, forced abortion and coercive birth control against Muslims in Xinjiang.
He said last month Washington was considering the language it might use to explain what’s happening within the region but added: “When the us speaks about crimes against humanity or genocide … we’ve got to be very careful and very precise because it carries an enormous w
