Twitter finally deletes China’s nasty tweet on Uyghur women

By Ateet Sharma New Delhi, Jan 9 : Faced with an angry outburst not just from the Uyghur community but also prominent politicians, human rights activists and the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Twitter has finally removed a tweet from a Chinese government account justifying its genocidal policy in the Uyghur dominated Xinjiang region, the westernmost part of the country.
In a tweet Thursday, the Chinese Embassy in the United States had shared a China Daily report on the population change in Xinjiang published by the Xinjiang Development Research Center defending China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims. The report said that the Muslim women in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are “no longer baby-making machines” and that the decrease in population growth throughout the province has led to a drop in terrorism.
“Study shows that 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 tweet from the Chinese embassy said.
The tweet backing the Chinese government’s policies against the Muslim community in spite of several reports revealing shocking data on involuntary abortions and sterilizations performed over the years in the region, invited instant scathing criticism from all corners of the globe.
“It is utterly appalling & shameful for the @ChineseEmbinUS & Communist #China to justify its genocidal policy in the #Uyghur region. I call on the international community to join USCIRF in condemning #CCP in the strongest terms,” said USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel.
Twitter first said that the Chinese embassy’s “Baby-making machines” tweet is not against its rules, which ban “the dehumanization of a group of people based on their religion, race, or ethnicity” but reversed its decision earlier Saturday by removing it saying it “violated the Twitter Rules.”