China has always been tough with its birth control policies. A recent report by a German scholar, Adrian Zenz, reveals that the Chinese birth control policies could cut between 2.6 to 4.5 million births of the Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in southern Xinjiang within 20 years.
Zenz’s report, which was exclusively shared with Reuters before publication, also displays that the birth rates according to official data have already dropped by 48.7% between 2017 and 2019. This was analyzed using a previously unreported cache of research produced by Chinese academics and officials on Beijing’s intent behind the birth control policies in Xinjiang.
China has been accused of genocide in Xinjiang, partially through its birth control policies, however Beijing denies these allegations.
According to Reuters, “The research by Zenz is the first such peer reviewed analysis of the long-term population impact of Beijing’s multi-year crackdown in the western region. Rights groups, researchers and some residents say the policies include newly enforced birth limits on Uyghur and other mainly Muslim ethnic minorities, the transfers of workers to other regions and the internment of an estimated one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in a network of camps.”
“This (research and analysis) really shows the intent behind the Chinese government’s long-term plan for the Uyghur population,” Zenz told Reuters.
According to Zenz, the government of China has not displayed any official target of reducing the population of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. However, according to analysis of official birth data, demographic projections and ethnic ratios proposed by Chinese academics and officials, the birth control policies could predominantly increase Han Chinese population in southern Xinjiang to around 25% from 8.4% currently.
“This goal is only achievable if they do what they have been doing, which is drastically suppressing (Uyghur) birth rates,” Zenz told Reuters.
“The so-called ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang is pure nonsense,” China’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters in a statement. “It is a manifestation of the ulterior motives of anti-China forces in the United States and the West and the manifestation of those who suffer from Sinophobia.”