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Chinese academic hits out at Pompeo-backed Xinjiang sterilisation report
- Associate professor disputes German researcher’s findings on points from population growth rates to penalties for family planning violations
- Response comes as China faces international pressure on human rights on a range of fronts
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A Chinese academic has countered US-backed allegations that China is using forced sterilisation against Muslims in Xinjiang, saying the claims were based on “fabricated facts” and “falsified data”.
In the most detailed response to emerge from China over findings that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described as “shocking” and disturbing”, Xinjiang University associate professor Lin Fangfei said the claims of forced sterilisation were seriously inconsistent with China’s official data.
Lin’s assessment, published on the university’s website on Monday, comes as China faces mounting pressure from the international community over human rights issues from Hong Kong to the far western region of Xinjiang.
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It focuses on conclusions made in a report by German researcher Adrian Zenz and published by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation think tank in June.
Pompeo cited Zenz’s report – “Sterilisations, IUDs and coercive birth prevention: The CCP’s campaign to suppress Uygur birth rates in Xinjiang” – in a statement on June 29, calling all nations to “join the US in demanding an end to these dehumanising abuses”.
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China’s foreign ministry rejected the report’s findings the next day and called Pompeo a “brazen liar”.
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Germany presses China on Hong Kong security law, seeks access to Uygurs in Xinjiang
Germany presses China on Hong Kong security law, seeks access to Uygurs in Xinjiang
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