The White House on Friday condemned Uighur concentration camps in China in which more than 1 million ethnic Uighur Muslims are estimated to be held.
“There is no credible justification I can find in Chinese philosophy, religion, or moral law for the concentration camps inside your borders,” Matt Pottinger, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, said.
Pottinger delivered his comments at a British think tank in Mandarin. His speech was directed at Chinese leaders.
The remarks come as the Trump administration is ramping up the rhetoric toward China with regard to Uighur Muslims. “If not a genocide, something close to it [is] going on in Xinjiang,” said Robert O’Brien, the President’s National Security Adviser, last week.
Xinjiang is the province where the majority of China’s Uighur population lives.
Recently, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the Vatican to take a “bold” stance against China and not renew a 2018 diplomatic deal. The Vatican wound up renewing the deal but not before Pompeo made the case they reject it based on China’s treatment of religious minorities.
In July U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized a shipment of 13 tons of hair and weave products suspected to be made out of human hair today. The source of the products is believed to be prisoners of Chinese internment camps.