Last week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken made his second trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), where he met with senior PRC officials to discuss a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues. Had Secretary Blinken not raised the plight of the Uyghur people during his visit, it would have been a significant missed opportunity. Thankfully, he reportedly discussed Uyghur and other important human-rights issues with his Chinese counterparts. But given the gravity of the ongoing atrocities Uyghurs face, merely raising the issue is not enough. It is imperative that Congress and the administration follow up these words with action.
Over three years ago, the United States became the first country to make an official determination that the PRC is “committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, China, for targeting Uyghur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.” That determination was based on the reality that at least 1.8 million Uyghurs are held in the CCP’s brutal prison camps. Since that time, Adrian Zenz has found that the CCP currently operates the largest state-run forced-labor program in the world — enslaving an estimated 3 million Uyghurs. There can be no doubt of the dire need for U.S. and global leadership to champion the Uyghur cause.
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