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Suspected Uyghur penal camp in the Chinese province of Xinjiang (archive image)
Photo: Greg Baker / AFP
The new US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken does not deviate from his predecessor Mike Pompeo in his stance on the suppression of the Uyghurs in China.
On Wednesday, Blinken said at his first press conference that he too believed that a genocide was being committed against the Uyghurs.
China's government has now clearly rejected the allegation.
"I will say that three times now because it is really important: there is no genocide in China, there is no genocide in China, there is no genocide in China," said Beijing Foreign Office spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday.
According to the spokesman, Xinjiang is experiencing the "most successful period" in its history
Rather, the Xinjiang region, where a particularly large number of Uyghurs live, is currently experiencing the "most successful period" in its history, said Zhao.
People would enjoy unprecedented economic and social improvements and "happy lives."
Blinken's predecessor, Pompeo, charged the day before he left office that China was committing "genocide and crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang.
These actions are "an affront to the Chinese people and to civilized nations everywhere."
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs are in re-education camps.
China does not provide any information about the number of people in the camps and calls the camps as training centers.
Uighurs are ethnically related to the Turks and feel oppressed by the ruling Han Chinese.
After they came to power in Beijing in 1949, the communists incorporated the former East Turkestan into the People's Republic.
Beijing accuses Uighur groups of terrorism.
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fek / dpa
