China was accused by an international panel of experts this week of violating every single article of the UN Genocide Convention over its treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
The superpower has denied all claims it is operating a state-run system that has been described as the 'horrific and systemic abuse of the Uyghur Muslim community within its detention centres'.
Instead, it has turned its sights onto Australia, America and other countries and criticised them for their historical abuse of indigenous people.
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Hu Xijin, who operates the state-run Global Times, tweeted: "What's genocide? Massacring native Americans and Aboriginal Australians, forcing people colonized to speak English, French, Spanish, transforming their way of life, these are genocide, right?"
The news editor was criticised by people on social media, with many pointing out that these issues happened decades or even centuries ago, compared to what's allegedly happening now in China.
Despite what China says about other countries, global attention is staying firmly fixed on them for what is reportedly happening to the Uyghur people.
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The first independent, non-governmental investigation has claimed the Chinese government is causing 'an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur' and is 'in breach of the UN Genocide Convention'.
The Genocide Convention has been signed by 152 countries, including China, and requires countries to avoid five outcomes, otherwise they could be considered guilty of genocide.
Countries must not be involved in killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; be found to be deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; impose measures intended to prevent births within the group; or forcibly transfer children of the group to another group.
It's believed as many as two million Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups have been forced into detention centres all over Xinjiang, a massive region in the country's far west.
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There are allegations the detainees there have been sexually, physically and mentally abused, and forced to renounce Islam and adopt a Chinese lifestyle.
The recent report from the independent thinktank has accused China of demonstrating 'intent to destroy, in a whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group', directly linking their alleged actions with breaching the Genocide Convention they signed up to.
"The intent to destroy the Uyghurs as a group is derived from objective proof, consisting of comprehensive state policy and practice, which President Xi Jinping, the highest authority in China, set in motion," the report said.
Their investigation found evidence of systemic torture and cruelty, including sexual abuse, interrogations and indoctrinations, as well as mass deaths and selective death sentences.
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It also found evidence that Uighur families have been ripped apart and separated in detention camps, with children sent to orphanages and people who are able to give birth forced into sterilisation.
Featured Image Credit: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Flickr)Topics: Australia
