China denies forceful use of birth control measures on Uighur women

Days after China was accused of forcing birth control measures on the Uighur women in theXinjiang region, China has once again denied these allegations and has instead claimed the government has instead helped the minority women out of a patriarchal practice.

The story in question is a claim made by a German anthropologist,Adrian Zenz, who claimed that the massive change in the population of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is due to forced sterilisation among the minority Muslim women.

China, however, has denied these allegations and has said Beijing has freed the Uighur women from becoming "baby-making machines" and the birth control measures being taken by these women are completely voluntary and out of free will.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"The growth rate of the Uighur population is not only higher than that of the whole Xinjiang population, but also higher than that of the minority population, and more significantly higher than that of the (Chinese majority) Han population," saidXu Guixiang, a deputy spokesperson for the Xinjiang regional government. "As for the so-called forcing ethnic minority women in Xinjiang to wear IUDs, or undergo tubal ligations or abortions, it is even more malign."

He also added that since the decisions are being taken by women of their own free will, "no organisation or individual can interfere".

The matter came to light after an investigation by journalists from the West revealed that minority Muslim women were being forced to use birth control measures such asIUD fittings, contraceptives, and even abortions and sterilization. It was also claimed that people with more than two children were being put into detention centres, prisons and concentration camps if they were unable to pay the heavy fines being forced on them.

Due to this, the birth rate has plummeted by over 60 per cent in Xinjiang's minority regions within three years.

This clarification has come afterChina's US embassy's tweetclaiming that Uighur women are no longer "baby-making machines" was deleted by the social media giant as it "violated the Twitter rules".

In the tweet, the embassy had posted a story quoting a study titled 'An Analysis Report on Population Change in Xinjiang' by Li Xiaoxia, a researcher for the Xinjiang Development Research Center that claimed the "natural growth rate of population in Xinjiang decreased from 11.4 per 1,000 people in 2017 to 6.13 per 1,000 people in 2018".

China has, once again, claimed that Beijing has done nothing but give more employment opportunities and a better lifestyle to the minority communities of the area.