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Image source, EPA / Roman Pilipey
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made statements during the only press conference of the year that he grants.
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“Ridiculously absurd.”
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This is how the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, called the genocide charges against the Muslim Uyghur ethnic group in the Xinjiang region, in the west of the country.
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“The so-called ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang is ridiculously absurd. It is a rumor with ulterior motives and a big lie,” said Wang, according to the agency. Reuters.
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The Foreign Minister made these statements during the only press conference a year that he grants, on the margins of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese Legislative.
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That meeting with the press is a extremely choreographed event, in which the Chinese authorities ask journalists the questions beforehand and choose who to give the microphone to.
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Various countries, including the United States, have used the term “genocide” to describe China’s treatment of Uighurs.
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Image source, AFP
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There are allegations that Uighur women are subjected to “ruthless” birth control programs.
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Those accusations came after growing evidence of abuse in so-called “reeducation camps” for Uighurs in the Xinjiang region.
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China has been accused of carrying out forced sterilizations on Uighur women and separating children from their parents. Investigations carried out by the BBC suggest that Uighurs are being used to forced labor and they have revealed allegations of systematic rape and torture.
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The UN has warned that at least 1 million members of the Muslim minority They are locked up in the aforementioned camps, which China defends as vocational training centers with the aim, he says, of eradicating extremism.
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What did wang yi say
In his conference this Sunday, the minister considered that Western politicians choose to believe lies about what is happening in Xinjiang and assured that China would welcome people to visit the region, despite the fact that the authorities restrict and even block visits. of international media to the area.
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Image source, EPA
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The measures China is accused of against the Uyghurs have sparked protests.
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“When talking about ‘genocide’, most people think of Native Americans in the sixteenth century, African slaves in the nineteenth century, Jews in the twentieth century, and indigenous Australians who continue to fight today, “he stressed, referring to rights situations humans in some of the countries most critical of Beijing.
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In January, the US determined that “the People’s Republic of China, under the leadership and control of the Communist Party of China, has committed genocide against predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. “
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“I believe that this genocide continues, and that we are witnessing a systematic attempt to destroy the Uighurs by the Chinese one-party state,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
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His successor coincided in describing what happened as “genocide”, as well as the Parliaments of Canada and the Netherlands.
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The accusations have generated calls in some countries to boycott the Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing.
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