China accuses US of trying to take world back to ‘jungle age’

Some US politicians ‘lie and cheat as a habit … maliciously create political confrontation and undermine multilateral cooperation’, spokesperson for China’s mission to the United Nations

Comments come after US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accuse Beijing of subjecting Uygurs and other minorities to forced abortion, sterilisation and involuntary implantation of birth control devices

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Beijing was angered by US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ allegations. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:47pm, 3 Oct 2020Updated: 9:09pm, 3 Oct 2020

China on Friday accused the United States of “fabricating lies” and trying to take the world back to the “jungle age” after Washington blamed Beijing and UN agencies for “the murder of millions of baby girls”.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Friday it regretted the accusations by US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which were made at a UN General Assembly meeting on Thursday on the anniversary of a landmark 1995 women’s conference.

UNFPA executive director Natalia Kanem said that any coercion of women was “against our practice and policy”.

“We accord the highest priority to voluntary sexual and reproductive health, rights and procedures,” she said.

“We have invited reviews of, in the case of UNFPA, our practice and procedures in the country of China, and for the past four years, the United States has not visited our programmes.”

The US cut funding in 2017 for the UNFPA, saying it “supports … a programme of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilisation”.