




The AP found that the Chinese government regularly subjects minority women in Xinjiang to pregnancy checks and forces intrauterine devices, sterilisation and even abortion on hundreds of thousands.


China Muslim Birth Control
The Associated Press has found that the Chinese government is carrying out a birth control program aimed at largely Muslim minorities in Xinjiang (Ng Han Guan/AP)



The US Commission on International Religious Freedom called for a UN and State Department investigation, saying the Chinese government’s birth control campaign “might meet the legal criteria for genocide”.

According to a UN convention, “imposing measures intended to prevent births” with “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” is considered evidence of genocide.





Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian fired back on Tuesday by calling Mr Pompeo “a brazen liar,” saying the Uighur population had more than doubled since 1978.

“If Mr Pompeo is telling the truth, how can he explain the big increase in the Uighur population?” Mr Zhao asked.



In response to the AP story, which he called “fake news,” Mr Zhao said the government treats all ethnicities equally and protects their legal rights.


However, the AP’s reporting found that while equal on paper, in practice Han Chinese are largely spared the abortions, sterilisations, IUD insertions and detentions for having too many children that are forced on Xinjiang’s other ethnicities, interviews and data show.


British members of Parliament debated Xinjiang in the House of Commons on Monday, with politicians from both parties urging the UK Foreign Ministry to adopt a stronger stance against the Chinese government.
