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US-China ties: Washington funded terrorists in Xinjiang, Beijing says
- Foreign ministry spokesman uses video of interview with sacked FBI contract translator Sibel Edmonds to support claim
- People’s Daily, Chinese diplomats share footage on social media around the world
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China on Wednesday accused the United States of supporting unrest in Xinjiang as it continues to defend its clampdown on Muslim minorities in the region.
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In Beijing’s most direct attack on the US to date, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the US funded and trained Muslim minorities in Xinjiang to cause unrest in the region.
His claims came amid an increase in Beijing’s efforts to reshape the narrative on Xinjiang, with Chinese diplomats adopting a more aggressive approach not only to defending Beijing’s human rights record but also attacking Western nations.
To support his allegations, Zhao played a video from 2015 in which a former contract translator for the FBI, Sibel Edmonds, said the US government funded terrorist attacks in Xinjiang to cut China off from its energy suppliers in Central Asia.
She also made unsubstantiated claims about conspiracy theories in Syria and Yemen.
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