US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the UN report on alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region on Thursday, demanding Beijing be held accountable for “genocide.”
“This report reinforces and reaffirms our serious concerns about the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Chinese authorities” against the Uyghur Muslim minority, Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Despite pressure from Beijing, which strongly denounced the report, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published this long-awaited report on the situation in Xinjiang on Wednesday night. The UN report mentions the possibility of “crimes against humanity” in the region but does not expressly mention genocide.
“We will continue to hold the Chinese authorities accountable and urge them to release all unjustified detainees…and allow unrestricted access to independent investigators in Xinjiang, Tibet and throughout China,” the US diplomat said.
Source: BFM TV
