US senators on Tuesday sought to declare that China is committing genocide against Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims, drawing a rebuke from Beijing.
The resolution was introduced by senators across the political spectrum, although it is unlikely to move immediately, as the Senate is out of session until after the election on Tuesday next week.
The text states that China’s campaign “against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region constitutes genocide.”
Photo: Reuters
“This resolution recognizes these crimes for what they are and is the first step toward holding China accountable for their monstrous actions,” said US Senator John Cornyn, who sponsored the proposal.
US Senator Jeff Merkley said the resolution would show that the US “can’t stay silent.”
“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.
Other cosponsors include US senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Rights groups say that more than 1 million Uighurs languish in camps in the Xinjiang region as Beijing attempts to forcibly integrate the community and expunge its Islamic heritage.
Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation who studies human rights in Asia, said that a genocide resolution on Xinjiang could put pressure on the White House to follow suit and pave the way for additional sanctions.
“Obviously, it would be great to have the executive branch say that this is genocide and/or crimes against humanity, but I think, in lieu of that, 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,” Enos said.
China yesterday accused the senators of telling “all kinds of lies.”
The “so-called genocide in Xinjiang is a rumor deliberately concocted by some anti-China forces,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told reporters.
“The US senators you mentioned have always been anti-China, and are keen to concoct all kinds of lies to discredit China and use them to seek their own political gains,” Wang said.
Wang said that the US was culpable in the “assimilation and massacres of Native Americans in history to greatly reduce their population.”
“We urge certain US politicians to respect the facts, stop fabricating lies and stop using Xinjiang-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” he said.
Additional reporting by AFP
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
RSS