This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned China's treatment of Uighur Muslims, saying the country 'can't hide' its human rights violations. His comments come after Arsenal faced backlash in China for its player Mesut Ozil's comments on the Uighur plight.
On Sunday, Beijing dropped state television broadcasts of Arsenal's match, a move that could have major commercial ramifications in the lucrative Chinese market.
"China's Communist Party propaganda outlets can censor @MesutOzil1088 and @Arsenal's games all season long, but the truth will prevail," Pompeo wrote on Twitter on December 17, 2019.
"The CCP can't hide its gross #HumanRights violations perpetrated against Uighurs and other religious faiths from the world," he added.
China has faced growing international condemnation for setting up a vast network of camps in Xinjiang, where critics say more than one million Uighurs and people of other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been sent.
Rights groups and experts say these camps are aimed at homogenizing the Uighur population to reflect China's majority Han culture.
