US accuses China of 'committing genocide against Uighurs

The outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused China of committing genocide in its repression of the Uighurs and other mainly Muslim people of China.

The incoming choice for secretary of state, Antony Blinken of President-elect Joe Biden also said that he agreed with these finding, BBC reported.

Rights groups have accused China of detaining up to a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps".

BBC investigations have also suggested that China is using Uighurs as forced labour.

Tensions with China has been the defining feature of Mr Trump's term, as the two countries clashed over trade policies to the coronavirus pandemic and genocide against Uighurs'.

While this lastest statement puts pressure on China, however, it does not automatically introduce any fresh penalties against it.

Mr Biden's team had made a similar allegation last August, saying the Uighurs had suffered "unspeakable oppression, at the hands of China's authoritarian government".

This way, the Trump administration has delivered its final "gift" to China, in the form of a parting shot on its last day in office.