Ralph Jennings for The Voice of America
SAN FRANCISCO —
Human rights advocates are welcoming what they see as increased U.S. attention to Chinese behavior in its volatile Tibet and Xinjiang regions, suggesting that lobbying by rights groups may have contributed to the surge of pressure on Beijing.
A law, a boycott and the appointment of a government official added up in late 2021 to increased U.S. resolve toward the restive Chinese regions, these advocates say.
The Muslim, ethnic Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China and ethnic Tibetans in a region of China’s Himalayas have sparred over the past half-century with the Communist government over freedom of worship and displays of their indigenous culture.
“Paying particular attention to the humanitarian crisis in East Turkestan [Xinjiang] is in America’s national interest and in line with American values and tradition to call to action whenever genocide and crimes against humanity occur, such as the case of Uyghurs,” said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress organization of exiled Uyghur groups.
“Much like the other countries in liberal democracies, Americans have this vow of ‘never again’ to allow vulnerable religious and ethnic groups subject to atrocity crimes like the Holocaust, and now the Uyghurs,” he said.
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