TV Asahi reported at noon that the Biden administration released yesterday its annual report on human rights practices in the world in which it called China’s treatment of people in Xinjiang “genocide.” The network showed Secretary of State Blinken saying: “We see it in the genocide being committed in predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.” The report also stated that “there were multiple reports from Uyghur family members who discovered their relatives had died while in internment camps or within weeks of their release” and said more than a million Uyghurs have been detained and subject to forced labor, sexual assault, or torture. On Hong Kong, the report denounced China for “destroying political freedom and autonomy” and pointed out that words such as “Hong Kong” and “Taiwan” were censored in a certain online game.

Asahi spotlighted the human rights report’s focus on Japan’s refugee screening system, calling the process “strict.” Pointing out that only 44 out of 10,375 applicants were granted refugee status in 2019, the report said NGOs and the UNHCR have raised concerns about the low level of approval. It also mentioned the lengthy detention of refugees and asylum-seekers and conditions in detention facilities.