China steps up defence of Xinjiang policies and says sanctions are an ‘industry genocide’ designed to hurt business

A spokesman for the regional government says Western sanctions are ‘waste paper’ and an attempt to hamper its companies internationally

Separately, a government think tank publishes a lengthy report rebutting ‘slanders’ from Adrian Zenz, a researcher who documents alleged human rights abuses

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China has been trying to rebut accusations that forced labour is used in the Xinjiang textiles industry. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:35pm, 30 Apr 2021Updated: 2:30am, 1 May 2021

Western sanctions targeting Xinjiang are no more than “a piece of waste paper” and their real purpose is to hamper Chinese companies internationally, the region’s government said on Friday.

“Their real purpose is to conduct an ‘industry genocide’, to sabotage the participation of Xinjiang in the global value chain,” Xu Guixiang, a spokesperson for the Xinjiang regional government told a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

Xu acknowledged that the sanctions will have an impact on exports from companies based in Xinjiang, but he insisted that in the long term, these companies will increase their competitiveness by investing in science and technology.

The Chinese state has recently stepped up its efforts to defend its policies in the region, where it is accused of detaining more than a million Uygurs and other minorities in “re-education” camps, using forced labour and a range of other human rights abuses. The US government has described its actions as “genocide”.

Friday’s press conference was the eighth such event, where officials from the region speak to foreign reporters in an effort to rebut the accusations point-by-point.

Beijing has also organised media tours of Xinjiang to counter the allegations, but reporters who have travelled to the region independently to investigate the allegations have reported being blocked by the authorities and followed by police.