Genocide in Xinjiang: China fumes over French resolution, says it could cause damage to bilateral ties

Image courtesy: Reuters file pic

Paris: The Chinese embassy in France on Thursday opposed a resolution that the French Parliament adopted over human rights issues in China`s Xinjiang province, and expressed concerns over the "damage" it could cause to bilateral relations. The Chinese embassy in a statement stated the resolution deliberately smeared China and grossly interfered in its internal affairs, state media tabloid Global Times reported.

"China has held a strong dialogue with France on this issue on many occasions and at multiple levels, and made it clear and serious that Xinjiang-related issues are not ethnic, religious or human rights issues, but anti-terrorism, de-radicalization and anti-separatism issues, which bear on China`s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security," said the statement. 

It added that the genocide in Xinjiang is a "big lie" fabricated on the basis of prejudice and hostility toward China. Earlier on Thursday, French Parliament slammed China`s "genocide" of its Uyghur Muslims.

A resolution that could sour relations between Paris and Beijing, urges the French government to protect the ethnic minority in the Xinjiang region and take "the necessary measures within the international community and in its foreign policy towards the People`s Republic of China".

The non-binding resolution, adopted with 169 votes in favour and just one against, was proposed by the opposition Socialists in the Lower House of Parliament. 

As per the adopted resolution, the National Assembly "officially recognises the violence perpetrated by the People`s Republic of China against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide".

"China is a great power. We love the Chinese people. But we refuse to submit to propaganda from a regime that is banking on our cowardice and our avarice to perpetrate genocide in plain sight," Socialist party chief Olivier Faure said.

He told lawmakers of conditions within internment camps where men and women were unable to lie down in cells, were exposed to rape and torture, and were forced to undergo organ transplants, reported the newspaper.

Similar resolutions were passed by parliaments in Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands last year, and the US government has also condemned what it deems genocide in Xinjiang.