'Lies of the century': China denies allegations of 'genocide' & 'forced labour' of Uyghurs

China on February 25 hit back on the widespread allegations of ‘genocide’ and ‘forced labour’ of Muslim ethnic minority, Uyghurs in Xinjiang and called it “lies of the century”. As the United States and Canada proceeded with a parliamentary vote recognising the treatment of Uyghurs in the country's remote western area as ‘genocide’, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday retaliated by saying ‘genocide actually happened in the US’. In a statement on Twitter, the Chinese government claimed that the population of the Muslim minority doubled in the past four decades and hence questioned, "Have you ever seen this kind of genocide?"

It further added that the United States “expelled and slaughtered” the native Indian during the ‘Westward Expansion’ at least 100 years after the country was founded. Chinese Foreign Ministry even compared the population, which decreased of native Indians from 5 million to 250,000. Recently, apart from the Western nations, at least twelve Japanese companies have reportedly announced that they would cease business deals with Chinese firms found to be benefitting from the forced labour of ethnic community in the western Xinjiang area.

Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “Allegations of "genocide" and "forced labour" in Xinjiang are lies of the century. Xinjiang's Uyghur population more than doubled in the past 40 years. Have you ever seen this kind of genocide?”

Read - Canada's Parliament Votes To Recognise China's Treatment Of Uyghurs As 'genocide'

Read - China Possibly Committed 'genocide' Against Uyghurs In Xinjiang: US Commission Report

UN has estimates one million Uyghurs detained in Xinjiang

The United Nations (UN) has estimated that there are nearly one million Muslims who have been detained in the Asian country’s remote region since 2017. Meanwhile, activists claim that several human rights violations are taking place in Xinjiang. But, China has condemned the allegations and claims that the camps in the area are set up to provide ‘vocational training’ to tackle extremism. Meanwhile, UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab wants the United Nations investigators to be given urgent access to Uyghur camps in Xinjiang as he warned that human right abuses in the Chinese province are taking place on an “industrial level”. 

Meanwhile, Canada on Monday became the second country in the world to describe China’s treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority as a ‘genocide’ after the House of Commons voted on the western Xinjiang region. Even though Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from the contentious vote, the parliamentary move is likely to further raise the diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and Beijing. The lawmakers approved the non-binding motion which was proposed by the opposition Conservatives to recognise China’s actions in Xinjiang where according to the United Nations (UN) at least one million Uyghurs are ‘detained’. 

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