Washington: The Chinese government's oppressive and discriminatory treatment of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the northwest region of Xinjiang is 'genocide' and former US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden stand against it in the strongest terms, the Biden campaign has said.
The statement assumes significance as many countries and international organisations have repeatedly criticised China over its treatment of its people in the country, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet.
While Beijing has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party's brutal crackdown on the ethnic community, Axios reported.
Genocide is a serious crime under international law and the US government has adopted the term on rare occasions only after extensive documentation. Some experts said reports of mass surveillance, torture, arbitrary detentions and forced detentions employed by China against Uyghurs amounts to 'demographic genocide'.
Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates initially stated in response to a report by Politico, which reported that the Trump administration is planning to formally label China's actions in Xinjiang as genocide, according to Axios.
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