US alarmed by "arbitrary, unjust" detention of over 1 mn Uighurs in China: official

The US is alarmed by the "arbitrary and unjust" detention of more than one million Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province, a top official has said, demanding an end to human rights abuses against the ethnic and religious minorities.

State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told reporters it was important to speak up for the victims of China's massive campaign of repression against Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang province in the holy month of Ramzan.

"The United States is alarmed by the arbitrary and unjust detention of more than 1 million people; widespread reports of torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment; ever-present, high-tech surveillance; and coerced practices contrary to people's faiths," Ortagus said Wednesday.

Her remarks came after 'The Washington Post' in a news dispatch from Beijing reported that the Chinese authorities were bullying members of the Muslim minority Uighur community to eat and drink before sundown in violation of Islamic rules for Ramzan with the implicit threat of punishment if they do not.

Throughout this campaign, the Chinese government aims to force its own citizens to renounce their ethnic identities and their Islamic faith, Ortagus said.

"The Chinese Communist Party has exhibited extreme hostility to all religious faiths since its founding, but even so the repression of Chinese Muslims stands out as particularly cruel and inhumane during the holy month," she said.

"The human rights abuses in Xinjiang must end, and they must end now. We call on the Chinese government to release all Uighurs and other Muslim minorities arbitrarily detained throughout Xinjiang so that they may return home to celebrate the Eid Holiday with their loved ones," Ortagus said.

Earlier in the day, in an interview to Fox Business News, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged that China was not allowing these people to move freely.

"They are indoctrinating them with Chinese thought, Chinese thinking, in ways that the West just wouldn't do. It's different, it's historic, and it's important," he said.

"We've focused on these million Uighurs that are in these terrible situations in these camps in one of the provinces, but it's broader and bigger than that," Pompeo said.

"The complete absence of political freedom inside of this country is something that the American people need to continue to watch and see, because it has an impact on our economic relations," said the top American diplomat.

China has denied the allegations of human rights violations and persecution of Muslim minority group.