China is committing genocide against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang, an independent U.K. tribunal said, adding to the criticism Beijing faces over its activities in the western region.
"The tribunal is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the PRC, by the imposition of measures to prevent births intended to destroy a significant part of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang as such, has committed genocide,” Geoffrey Nice, chair of the London-based panel of lawyers, academics and former diplomats, said on Thursday, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
The tribunal has no government backing, meaning its conclusions are nonbinding, but its decision is certain to elicit an angry response from China. The country’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed the panel as a "machine churning out lies” and Beijing sanctioned it in March.