In a rare foreign policy deal, President Biden and the former Trump administration accuse the Chinese government of genocide against Uighurs.
On his last day at work, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released determinations that China committed crimes against humanity and “genocide against predominantly Muslim Uighurs”.
Within hours, Pompeo’s likely successor, Antony Blinken, was asked whether he agreed with the State Department’s statement during its nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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“That would be my judgment too,” he said. “Forcing men, women and children into concentration camps, effectively trying to re-educate them to be supporters of the Chinese Communist Party – all this indicates an effort to commit genocide.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki dodged the issue of the government’s position on the issue on Friday, but referred to Biden’s earlier comments calling China’s treatment of Uighurs “horrible” by China.
During the presidential campaign in late August, Biden’s campaign said in a statement: “The unspeakable oppression that Uighurs and other ethnic minorities have suffered at the hands of China’s authoritarian government is genocide and Joe Biden is opposed in the strongest terms. “
On the same day that Pompeo declared incidents in the Xinjiang genocide, an Internal Security Department official told Fox News that the department’s general council office reached the same conclusion as the State Department and will take appropriate action.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington called the US accusations “gross interference in China’s internal affairs and a serious violation of international law”.
The embassy said China’s actions in Xinjiang “are not about ethnicity, religion or human rights, but about anti-violence, anti-terrorism, anti-paratyism and de-radicalization.”
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China’s Foreign Ministry responded by announcing sanctions against Pompeo and several other former Trump administration officials.
Several members of Biden’s cabinet have already publicly denounced China’s actions against the Uighurs.
Janet Yellen, appointed by the Treasury Secretary, called China “our most important strategic competitor”, while accusing the country of “horrendous human rights abuses”.
While the Chinese government continues its damage control operation by attacking former Trump officials, it has reserved judgment on the Biden government so far.
A former senior government official told Fox News that the Trump State Department has prepared potential sanctions against about half a dozen senior Chinese Communist Party officials for the next Biden government.
It is not clear whether the Biden government is in favor of this action.
Organizations fighting for the freedom of the people in Xinjiang, as well as the establishment of an independent state, welcome the initiative of the previous government, expect Biden to continue the same policy.
The East Turkestan Government in Exile, an organization that claims to represent the people of the region, called the State Department’s decision to leave “the culmination of a years-long debate over how to punish what many consider Beijing’s worst human rights abuses. in decades. ” The organization’s leader, Prime Minister Salih Hudayar, urged other countries to follow the United States and respond firmly to the genocide.
The land that Uighurs have historically called Eastern Turkmenistan has been occupied by China since 1949 and renamed Xinjiang.
“We firmly believe that without restoring East Turkestan independence, there is no way to protect human rights [and] freedom, but only the very survival of our people, “said Hudayar.” We have made a formal complaint to the International Criminal Court about this genocide. The evidence we present includes murders of people, historically, in the past, and even murders of people recently. “
Sairagul Sautbay told Fox News that she was “forcibly taken to a concentration camp, where I was forced to work as a Chinese teacher for inmates”.
“I saw all the horrors there,” she said in a note that was translated. “In order to exterminate Kazakhstan, Uighur, Kyrgyzstan and other indigenous peoples of East Turkestan [sic], who have lived in their homeland since the time of their ancestors, the CCP has imprisoned men and women, young and old, from all walks of life. “
She added: “The CCP’s genocidal policy destroyed millions of families and turned East Turkestan into a large open-air prison. This crime is a genocide committed by the CCP against humanity after World War II. In this concentration camp, I witnessed the horrors of countless innocent people. Their hopes were dashed and they were greatly weakened by hunger, insomnia and torture. “
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Experts say the problem will be a fundamental test for the Biden government.
Scott Kennedy, senior consultant and chairman of the board of directors for Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, predicts that Biden will raise concerns, but will not attack China’s interests directly.
“We will see the president talking about human rights and the United States will engage with allies to propose joint approaches to these issues,” he said. “This applies to Xinjiang, Hong Kong, China’s surveillance state and other human rights issues.”
Gordon Chang, an expert on US-China relations, believes the United States is compelled to act.
“Biden, who said he would be tough on Beijing’s human rights violations, will have to act against the Chinese genocide or pay a political cost for not doing so,” said Chang. “Everyone will be watching.”
Rich Edson of Fox News contributed to this report.