BEIJING (AP) – China’s State Department on Wednesday described outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a “doomsday clown” saying his designation of China as the perpetrator of genocide and crimes against humanity was just “a piece of waste paper” .
The allegations of abuse against Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang region are “downright sensational pseudo-propositions and an evil farce devised by individual anti-Chinese and anti-communist forces represented by Pompeo,” spokesman Hua Chunying told reporters at a daily briefing.
“We think that Pompeo’s so-called clue is just a piece of paper. This American politician, notorious for lying and cheating, is turning himself into a doomsday clown and joke of the century with his last madness and lies of the century, ”said Hua.
Pompeo’s announcement Tuesday does not require immediate action, although the US must take the lead into account when formulating policy on China. China says its policies in Xinjiang are only aimed at promoting economic growth and social stability.
The US has previously spoken out and taken action against Xinjiang, introducing a series of sanctions against senior Chinese Communist Party leaders and state-owned companies that fund repressive policies in the vast, resource-rich region. Last week, the Trump administration announced that it would stop imports of cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang, with customs and border security officials saying they would block products there that are suspected of being produced using forced labor.
Many of the Chinese officials accused of participating in the repression are already under US sanctions. The term “genocide” means that new measures can be more easily imposed.
Tuesday’s move is the latest in a series of steps the outgoing Trump administration has taken to increase pressure on China over issues such as human rights and the coronavirus pandemic to Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. China has responded with its own sanctions and harsh rhetoric.
According to US officials and human rights organizations, China has imprisoned more than 1 million people, including Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, in an extensive network of prison-like political indoctrination camps. Humans have been subjected to torture, sterilization and political indoctrination, in addition to forced labor as part of an assimilation campaign in a region whose inhabitants differ ethnically and culturally from the Han Chinese majority.
The Associated Press reported widespread forced contraception among Uyghurs last year, including the mass sterilization of Muslim women, even as family planning restrictions are relaxed for members of China’s dominant Han ethnic group.
China has denied all charges, but forced labor in Uyghurs has been linked to several products imported into the US, including clothing and electronic goods such as cameras and computer monitors, through reports by the AP.
James Leibold, a Chinese ethnic policy specialist at La Trobe in Melbourne, Australia, said international pressure appears to have had some effect on Chinese policy in Xinjiang, notably prompting the government to release information about the camps and possibly reduce mass detentions.
“So hopefully we will see continued continuity with regard to the new (Joe Biden) administration to hold China to account,” Leibold said in an interview.
“And hopefully the Biden government can bring its allies with it to continue to put pressure on the Chinese government,” he said.
___
Associated Press journalist Dake Kang contributed to this report.