Pompeo calls on China to 'release all arbitrarily detained'
March 28, 2019
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo late Wednesday called on China to "end these counterproductive policies and release all arbitrarily detained" after meeting with the reportedly oppressed minority groups of the country.
In a series of tweets on his official account, Pompeo described his meeting with Uighurs, Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups and shared some pictures as well.
"Met with survivors and family members of China's campaign of repression and mass detention against #Uighurs, ethnic #Kazakhs, and other members of minority groups in #Xinjiang," he wrote.
Pompeo said members of these minorities had been detained "in internment camps in Xinjiang since April 2017" and assured them of Washington's support.
"The US stands with them and their family members. China must release all those arbitrarily detained and end its repression.
"The world cannot afford China’s shameful hypocrisy toward Muslims," he wrote.
The state secretary also took a jibe at China's March 13 decision to veto a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that sought a ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar.
"On one hand, China abuses more than a million Muslims at home, but on the other it protects violent Islamic terrorist groups from sanctions at the UN."
