China's coercive policies in Xinjiang led to sharp decline in Uyghur birth rates: Report

An Australian think tank on May 12 released a report in which it said that coercive policies in China’s Xinjiang region have led to a sharp decline in birth rates of Uyghurs and other minorities, which could add evidence of genocide. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) provided new evidence documenting the effectiveness of the Chinese government’s systemic efforts to reduce the size of the indigenous population of Xinjiang. ASPI said that there has been an “unprecedented and precipitous drop in official birth-rates in Xinjiang since 2017”. 

In its report, the think tank said that Xinjiang’s birth rate dropped by nearly half from 2017 to 2019, and the counties where the population was predominantly Uyghur or another minority group saw much sharper declines than other counties. ASPI said that the Chinese Communist Party authorities in Xinjiang launched a “series of strike-hard campaigns” against “illegal births with explicit aim to decrease the birth rate in southern Xinjiang by at least 4.00 per thousand from 2016 levels”. It noted that the birth rates across the region fell nearly 48.74 per cent in two years between 2017 and 2019. 

The report read, “The Chinese government’s approach to birth control among minority nationalities shifted from “reward and encourage” towards a more coercive and intrusive policing of reproduction processes”. 

It added, “Hefty fines, disciplinary punishment, extrajudicial internment, or the threat of internment were introduced for any “illegal births.” Family-planning officials in Xinjiang were told to carry out ‘early detection and early disposal of pregnant women found in violation of policy’”. 

Western nations call for investigation 

The ASPI report comes amid growing calls among some western states for an investigation into whether Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide. The US, Britain and Canada have also described China’s policies in Xinjiang as genocide. According to foreign governments and researcher, an estimated one million people or more have been confined in camps in Xinjiang. Authorities have accused of imposing forced labour as well.  

However, the Chinese government has rejected the allegations and characterised the camps, which it says are now closed, as vocational training centres to teach the Chinese language, job skills and the law in order to support economic development and combat extremism.  

(Image: ANI/AP)