News2021.04.23 13:05

Chinese embassy slams Uighur genocide talks in Lithuania as ‘farce’

BNS 2021.04.23 13:05

Beijing's embassy in Vilnius has condemned Thursday's human rights discussion at the parliament, which included topics on Uighur repressions that Lithuania is considering  recognising as genocide.

"On April 22, the Seimas discussed the so-called human rights issue of Xinjiang in disregard of China's solemn position as well as facts and truth about Xinjiang," the Chinese embassy to Lithuania said in a statement.

"It is an anti-China farce choreographed by some anti-China individuals intended to smear China. The Chinese side firmly opposes and strongly condemns it,” it added.

During Thursday's discussion, Uighur representative Rayhan Asat said that over a million people are illegally imprisoned and subjected to forced labour in China.

Read more: ‘We will not be intimidated.’ Despite China threats, Lithuania moves to recognise Uighur genocide

"At least one million people have been put into camps and still more illegally imprisoned in militarized jails, factories and schools. Every Uighur family is suffering the same thing, their crimes against humanity," the human rights lawyer said.

"The world can stop this atrocity before more tight measures are taken by the Chinese state," she said.

Scientists, artists, and minors including her brother are among those who have suffered from the Chinese regime, according to Asat.

The discussion on the human rights situation was organised by the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Žygimantas Pavilionis, its chairman, said the parliament considers human rights violations an important issue, irrespective of whether they are taking place in China, Belarus or Russia.

Human rights groups say at least a million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are being held in the so-called "re-education camps" in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Observers say such facilities are part of a government campaign to forcibly assimilate ethnic minorities, sometimes using torture and forced labor. Mass rapes and the forced sterilisation of women are also alleged to have taken place in the camps.

China initially denied the existence of the camps, but it now describes them as vocational education and training centers aimed at countering Muslim radicalism and separatist tendencies.

Beijing says people attend the centers voluntarily and improve their employment prospects.

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