Hours after China claimed that policy in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region was a “brilliant example” of human rights progress, Canadian parliamentarians voted Monday to consider Beijing’s treatment of the Uighur minority as a genocide. ..
Rights groups believe that at least one million Uighurs and a minority of most other Muslims have been imprisoned in northwestern camps, and China has also forced women to sterilize and impose forced labor. It has been accused of doing so.
A motion that “Chinese Uighurs have been and are still being slaughtered” was unanimously passed by the Canadian House of Commons, and the minister officially told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that way. I asked for a label.
The motion also called for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to move if the “genocide” continues.
The United States has already used the label, and former President Donald Trump’s administration accused China of “a systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs” in January.
Trudeau said Friday that there were serious reports of abuse from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. And after the G7 meeting, he said Canada was in talks with its international allies on the use of the term “genocide” for the treatment of Uighurs.
The growing call for action in Canada reflects dissatisfaction with China’s human rights records in other Western countries, including the United States, where President Joe Biden is trying to restructure the alliance to maintain pressure on Beijing. There is.
The new president has already Beijing’s human rights situation, it has criticized in particular for abuse in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, including a marathon two-hour phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
China resented such comments, described Xinjiang as an internal issue, and rejected allegations of abuse.
China initially denied the existence of a camp in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and then defended the camp as a vocational training center aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremists.
Beijing said on Monday that the treatment of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet Autonomous Regions “stands out as a brilliant example of China’s human rights progress.”
Foreign Minister Wang Yi later told the UN Human Rights Council through a video link that “there was no so-called genocide, forced labor or religious repression in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.”
The move of Canadian parliamentarians is likely to offend Beijing, and relations between China and Canada have plummeted in recent years.
In late 2018, Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested on a U.S. warrant, and China called two Canadians (former diplomat Michael Kobrig and businessman Michael Spaber) in retaliation. The relationship worsened as a result of being restrained in.
The two men have had little contact with the outside world since they were detained on suspicion of espionage.
Canadian MPs Say China’s Treatment Of Uighurs Is ‘Genocide’ Source link Canadian MPs Say China’s Treatment Of Uighurs Is ‘Genocide’