The CCP’s oppressive practices in Xinjiang that have been reported have included tracking Uyghurs by means of a high-tech surveillance system that has obtained genetic data on many residents. It is estimated more than 1 million Uyghurs, and maybe as many as 3 million, have been detained in “re-education” camps. Forced labor is common, according to reports. Life in the camps reportedly can result in rape, torture and coercive organ harvesting. Uyghur women are also at the mercy of forced abortions and sterilizations.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned Obokata’s report and charged him with believing “in lies and disinformation about Xinjiang spread by the U.S. and some other Western countries and anti-China forces.” He told reporters Aug. 17, “There has never been ‘forced labor’ in Xinjiang.”
The announcement of Obokata’s report came after China ratified two conventions on forced labor Aug. 12 with the International Labor Organization, including one that bans the use of forced labor in all forms.
The policies in Xinjiang have come during the last decade under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who has been the CCP’s general secretary since 2012 and China’s president since 2013.
“Despite this dark cloud of dehumanization hanging over him, we know President Xi is planning a precedent-breaking third term as leader,” Leatherwood told BP. “He once cast a vision of China being ‘culturally advanced,’ yet this report shows – under his leadership – the government is conducting some of the most culturally heinous actions imaginable. America, and the entire international community, must make clear the findings at the center of this report are unacceptable.”
The ERLC has called for adoption of U.S. policies to combat China’s repression of the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities.
President Biden signed into law in December 2021 the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, ERLC-endorsed legislation that prohibits products made with forced labor in Xinjiang from being introduced into the American market. In June, Leatherwood expressed his “profound concerns” in a letter to Biden that a new White House order could be used to allow into the United States solar cells and modules produced by the Uyghurs under forced-labor conditions.
This article originally appeared here.
