Fewer Hans In Xinjiang, China Cuts Birth Of Ethnic Uighur Muslims

Illustration of Uighur Muslims. (Wikimedia Commons/travelingmipo)

JAKARTA - Shocking news comes from China, where the country's birth control policies, German researchers say, were able to cut 2.6 million to 4.5 million births to Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in southern Xinjiang in 20 years.

The report includes previously underreported research by Chinese academics and officials on birth control in Xinjiang, where the birth rate in the region fell by 48.7 percent between 2017 and 2019.

The research, conducted by Adrian Zenz, is the first peer-reviewed analysis of the long-term population impact of Beijing's multi-year crackdown on the west.

"This (research and analysis) really shows the intent behind the Chinese government's long-term plans for the Uighur population," Zenz told Reuters.

Although the Chinese government has not announced any official targets, to reduce the proportion of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. But based on an analysis of official birth data, demographic projections, and ethnic ratios proposed by Chinese academics and officials, Zenz estimates Beijing's policies could increase the dominant Han Chinese population in southern Xinjiang to around 25 percent from the current 8.4 percent.

"This goal can only be achieved if they do what they have been doing, which has drastically reduced the (Uighur) birth rate," Zenz said.

An aerial photo illustration of Xinjiang City, China. (Wikimedia Commons/Anagoria)

Previously, Beijing said the current decline in the birth rate of ethnic minorities was due to the full implementation of the region's existing birth quotas as well as development factors, including increased per capita income and wider access to family planning services.

"The so-called 'genocide' in Xinjiang is sheer nonsense. It is a manifestation of the ulterior motives of anti-China forces in the United States and the West and a manifestation of those suffering from Sinophobia," China's Foreign Ministry told Reuters in a statement.

"Official data showing the decline in the birth rate of Xinjiang between 2017 and 2019 does not reflect the true situation. And, the birth rate of Uighurs remains higher than that of ethnic Han people in Xinjiang," the ministry added.

New research compares population projections conducted by Xinjiang-based researchers for the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences based on data before the crackdown, with official data on birth rates and what Beijing describes as population optimization measures for Xinjiang's ethnic minorities. .

As a result, the ethnic minority population in the predominantly Muslim Uighur south of Xinjiang will reach between 8.6-10.5 million by 2040, under the new birth prevention policy. Meanwhile, using projections before the birth policy is implemented, there will be 13.14 million Uighurs. Meanwhile, the current population is around 9.47 million people.

Demonstrations against human rights violations against ethnic Uighur Muslims. (Wikimedia Commons/Claudia Himmelreich)

Zenz, an independent researcher with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a bipartisan non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, has previously been criticized by Beijing for his research critical of China's policies on detaining Uyghurs, mass labor transfers and birth reductions. in Xinjiang.

China's Foreign Ministry accused Zenz of misleading people with data and, in response to a Reuters question, said his lies were not worth denying. Meanwhile, Zenz's research was accepted for publication by the Central Asian Survey, a quarterly academic journal, after peer review on June 3.

Previously, Communist Party records leaked in 2020, also reported by Zenz, a re-education camp in the Karakax area of southern Xinjiang listed birth violations as a reason for detention in 149 cases out of 484 detailed in the list. China calls the list a fabrication.

Birth quotas for ethnic minorities have been strictly enforced in Xinjiang since 2017, including the separation of married couples, and the use of sterilization procedures, contraceptives (IUDs) and abortion, three Uyghurs and one health official in Xinjiang told Reuters.

“The problem in southern Xinjiang is mainly the unbalanced population structure. The proportion of the Han population is too low," Liu Yilei, an academic and deputy general secretary of the Communist Party committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a government body with administrative authority in the region, said at the July 2020 symposium, published on the Xinjiang University website.

Liu could not be reached for comment, while the Foreign Ministry did not comment on the statement or the intent behind the policy.