Twitter account of China's embassy in US locked over a post on Uyghur women

American microblogging website, Twitter has locked the account of China's Embassy in the US over a tweet that defended China's policies in the Xinjiang region. As per reports, the post violated the firm's policy against "dehumanisation". The account, @ChineseEmbinUS had said that the women in the Muslim minority, Uyghurs were no longer "baby-making machines" and cited a study that was reported by the state-backed newspaper China Daily.

While the tweet itself was removed by Twitter, the embassy did not post anything since January 9. Moreover, Twitter locking the Chinese government account came just a day after former US President Donald Trump's administration in its closing hours, accused the mainland of committing genocide in the remote region of Xijiang. As per reports, a Twitter spokesperson has said on January 21 that the website took the action on the tweet for violating our policy against dehumanisation. As the policy states: "We prohibit the dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, caste, age, disability, serious disease, national origin, race, or ethnicity".

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Chinese Embassy’s tweet on Uyghur women

On January 7, the Chinese embassy in Washington shared a report by China Daily and wrote, "Studies show that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uyghur 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 study and the tweet had attributed the decrease in population growth to family planning programs and increased education, which religious extremism “incited people to resist”. The article also cited the study conducted by the state-run Xinjiang Development Research Centre.

Meanwhile, experts believe that the Uyghurs women in Xinjiang are forced to undergo sterilisation. China's Xinjiang is home to around 10 million Uyghurs. The Turkic Muslims, which consist of 45% of Xinjiang's population, have long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

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