Twitter Deletes China's US Embassy Post Stating Uighur Women No Longer 'Baby-making Machines'

Twitter has removed a post by China’s US embassy stating that Uighur women have been emancipated from extremism and they are no longer ‘baby-making machines’.

“Study shows in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines. They are more confident and independent,” the Chinese Embassy in the US posted with a link to an article denying allegations of forced sterilisation in Xinjiang.

While removing the post, Twitter claimed that the post ‘violated the Twitter rules’ and did not provide further details, The Guardian reported.

However, the Chinese embassy’s Twitter account later reposted the story with a different caption stating, “Study shows the population change in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region involves the overall improvement in population quality. An increasing number of youths chose to spend more time and energy on personal development.”

Meanwhile, other Chinese state media reports said women were ‘spontaneously’ taking up free IUDs and tubal ligations (a form of permanent surgical contraception), and the changes in birth rate were due to government limits of three children per family. Along with it poverty alleviation programmes, education improvements, and changes to cultural marriage practices and religious opposition to contraception have improved the situation.

The Guardian report stated that in the past few years, China has escalated its crackdown on ethnic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, including the mass internment of an estimated one million people, intense human and digital surveillance, re-education programs, suppression of religious activities and destruction of religious sites. This did not end here, the minorities were involved in forced labour, and enforced sterilisation of women.

Experts have claimed that the policies amount to cultural genocide. However, China has rejected the accusations and said that the camps are vocational training centres and have been made to combat religious extremism and terrorism.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here