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Biden links policies targeting Uygurs in Xinjiang to the Holocaust
- ‘We see today the patterns, the choices, playing out around the world, even as we speak,’ says the US president
- The Biden administration has emphasised repeatedly since taking office that it views human rights as a central pillar of American foreign policy
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US President Joe Biden in a speech on Friday linked Beijing’s policies targeting the Uygurs in China’s Xinjiang region to the horrors of the Holocaust more than seven decades ago, and warned against global silence and complicity as world leaders trample on individual human rights.
“Sadly, when we look around the world today, we cannot say that the spectre of atrocity is behind us,” he said. “We see today the patterns, the choices, playing out around the world, even as we speak – the oppression and use of forced labour of the Uygurs in Xinjiang.”
“The ability of the human mind to rationalise cannot be underestimated,” Biden said.
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The Biden administration has emphasised repeatedly since taking office that it views human rights as a central pillar of American foreign policy – including the US relationship with Beijing.
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Canada leads call by more than 40 countries for China to give UN access to Xinjiang
Canada leads call by more than 40 countries for China to give UN access to Xinjiang
Washington has imposed a range of human rights sanctions on China over its crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong along with its reportedly mass-internment and assimilation policies targeting Uygurs and other ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang, which the State Department has labelled a genocide and other experts classify as crimes against humanity.
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Beijing denies all allegations of human rights violations, and accuses the US of interfering in China’s internal affairs.
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