The Chinese government is facing intense backlash after the communist country bragged via the Twitter account associated with its American embassy that its “processes” have brought “gender equality” to Uyghur women and freed them from having to be “baby-making machines.”
Australian journalist C.J. Werleman condemned China for bragging “about carrying out genocide” against minority Muslims in the country.
In June, the Associated Press reported the Chinese government has been “taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uighurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population.”
The AP investigation found the communist country routinely subjects women to pregnancy checks, forces them to get IUDs, coerces women into abortions, and forces sterilization.
What China is currently doing to Uyghur Muslims — placing them in “re-education” camps — meets the United Nations’ definition of genocide. And while Twitter is busy restricting tweets from President Donald Trump, it is allowing the Chinese government to, without restriction, boast about its abuses of minority Muslim women.
A spokesperson for Twitter told Ars Technica reporter Timothy Lee that the tweet from China “is not in violation of our policies.”
Thought leaders and politicians have been rebuking China for its claim:
- “So basically, you were committing genocide and a crime against humanity,” replied American University in Cairo professor Amro Ali.
- “This is sickening, but sadly what we’ve come to expect from Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” wrote Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). “The atrocities occurring in Communist China against the Uyghurs are a genocide. Propaganda can’t hide their crimes.”
- “Why does Twitter allow their platform to be used for this kind of propaganda?” asked Quebec Sen. Leo Housakos. “They are bragging about the genocide of Muslims.”
- “Does this tweet promote violence?” Business Insider reporter Anthony Fisher asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. “Because I’m pretty sure it promotes government-sponsored genocide.”
- “This is utterly disgraceful,” added Oxford doctoral student Ben Igielman. “Twitter must immediately suspend the Chinese Embassy for this sickening attempt to justify the genocide they are committing against the Uyghur people.”
- “This is a literal admission from the Chinese Embassy to meeting one of the standards of committing genocide against Uighurs,” explained Olivia Enos, a senior policy analyst for Heritage.
- “The Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide against the Uyghur people [and] forced sterilization is one of the clearest examples,” noted Chelsea Patterson Sobolik, a policy director for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Back in late June, following the AP report, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote the world “is quickly realizing the scale [and] scope of the ‘demographic genocide’ being carried out by the Communist Party of China against the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.”
Rubio, along with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), introduced legislation at the end of October to designate China’s ongoing human rights abuses against’s minority Muslim population as genocide. Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) also signed on to the bill.
In late December, outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered a federal review to determine whether China’s crimes amount to genocide.