UK accuses China of 'egregious' human rights abuses

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Sunday accused China of "gross and egregious" human rights abuses against its Uighur population and said sanctions against those responsible cannot be ruled out.

Reports of forced sterilisation and wider persecution of the Muslim group were "reminiscent of something not seen for a long time", he told the BBC.

The UK would work with its allies to take appropriate action, said the minister, who is due to update Parliament on Monday on the UK's response, amid speculation it will scrap the UK's existing extradition treaty with the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Asked whether the treatment of the Uighurs met the legal definition of genocide, Raab said the international community had to be "careful" before making such claims.

But he said: "Whatever the legal label, it is clear that gross, egregious human rights abuses are going on.

"It is deeply, deeply troubling and the reports on the human aspect of this — from forced sterilisation to the education camps — are reminiscent of something we have not seen for a very long time.

"We want a positive relationship with China but we can't see behaviour like that and not call it out."

China's UK ambassador Liu Xiaoming said talk of concentration camps was "fake".

Liu told the BBC that the Uighurs received the same treatment under the law as other ethnic groups in his country.

“There is no such concentration camps in Xinjiang. There's a lot of fake accusations against China,” he said.

Shown drone footage that appears to show Uighurs being blindfolded and led to trains, and which has been authenticated by Australian security services, Liu said he "did not know" what the video was showing and "sometimes you have a transfer of prisoners, in any country".