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Pompeo calls China's treatment of Uighurs 'stain of the century'

18 July 2019 18:58 (UTC +04:00)

“China is home to one of the worst human rights crises of our time; it is truly the stain of the century,” Pompeo told the final day of the international conference in Washington, APA reports citing Reuters.

Pompeo said Chinese government officials had sought to discourage countries from attending the three-day event he has hosted.

“Is that consistent with the guarantee of religious belief that is found directly in the Chinese constitution?” he asked.

Pompeo, who said this week that more than 100 foreign delegations had been invited to the conference, congratulated countries which had defied Chinese pressure, while adding: “If you have declined to attend for the same region, we take note.”

Pompeo did not name any of the countries and a State Department spokesman could not provide a figure.

“We know the Chinese government called countries specifically to discourage participation. We cannot prove the exact number they successfully impacted,” he said.