This archive report was first published on 20 July 2020.
Published on July 20, 2020, the situation in Xinjiang has sparked widespread concern over human rights abuses.
China has been accused of rounding up over one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps, which Beijing claims are for job-training and counter-extremism efforts.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has spoken out against the alleged abuses, calling them 'gross and egregious.' He stated, 'It is clear that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on... it is deeply, deeply troubling.'
However, China's foreign ministry has dismissed the allegations as 'rumours and slander.' Spokesman Wang Wenbin said, 'The Xinjiang issue is not about human rights, religions or ethnic groups at all, but about combating violence, terrorism and separatism.'
Exiled Uighurs have called for an investigation into China's actions, accusing the country of forced sterilisations and mass detentions.
The tensions between London and Beijing have escalated over several issues, including the removal of Huawei from the UK's 5G network and China's imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong.
