“In the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur [sic] women were emancipated . . . making them no long [sic] baby-making machines.”
This quote is taken from an article recently appearing in the Chinese Communist Party-owned China Daily, claiming that the “eradication of extremism” has helped Uyghur women “to become healthy, confident and independent.” In fact, this article seeks to justify China’s horrific human rights abuses against Uyghur women. U.S. officials and China critics have slammed the article. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for example, promptly responded in a tweet,“Uyghur women are not ‘emancipated’ by forced abortions and sterilizations.”
The China Daily article states that the birthrate among Uyghurs in Xinjiang has decreased “from the eradication of religious extremism.” What’s missing from the article is that, according to an AP Report, CCP-backed scholars have identified “as a key obstacle [to the CCP’s goals in Xinjiang] the religious belief that ‘the fetus is a gift from God.’” This belief is identified as “religious extremism.” By that definition, believers in most major world religions, including Christianity, would be identified by the CCP as “religious extremists.”
Saying that the minds of Uyghur women have been “emancipated” from this “extremism,” “making them no longer baby-making machines,” shows the Chinese Communist Party’s disparaging view of religious faith, its patronizing view of women, its racism against Uyghurs, and its complete disrespect for the value of human life.
The China Daily article, citing a “report,” claims “The changes were not caused by ‘forced sterilization’ of the Uygur [sic] population, as repeatedly claimed by some Western scholars and politicians.’”
This claim is pure propaganda. It demonstrates the way in which the CCP’s media organs simply promote any narrative they want the world to believe, without any connection to reality. In fact, according to credible sources — including the Associated Press, researcher Adrian Zenz, and Radio Free Asia, — substantial evidence exists that Uyghur women are being heavily persecuted through forced abortion, forced sterilization, and even infanticide. These practices constitute crimes against humanity.
The Trump administration has taken a leading role worldwide in forcefully condemning the CCP’s atrocities against the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority group in Xinjiang Province, also known as East Turkistan. The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act received strong, bicameral and bipartisan support. We call upon the Biden administration strongly to condemn human rights atrocities perpetrated by the CCP in Xinjiang, to sanction Chinese officials responsible for these atrocities under the Global Magnitsky Act, and to issue a genocide determination. We further call upon them not to renew funding for the UNFPA, absent complete transparency and proof that the UNFPA is not collaborating with the CCP’s egregious population control program. We also believe that China should not be honored to host the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
