May 13, 2021 5:12PM ET

Beijing Turned Xinjiang Into ‘Open-Air Prison,’ Senior Official Claims

As birthrates in Xinjiang plummet, Western nations are demanding “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access” to the cotton-rich region. — Schoolchildren dance during a music class at a primary school, as seen during a government-organized visit for foreign journalists, in Awati Township in Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Monday, April 19, 2021. Xinjiang in far western China had the sharpest known decline in birthrates between 2017 and 2019 of any territory in recent history, according to a new analysis by an Australian think tank.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Tensions over China’s reported abuses of Turkic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region continued to flare Wednesday after Western nations led by the United States, Britain and Germany demanded “immediate, meaningful and unfettered access” for United Nations experts to investigate the allegations. Speaking at a UN virtual event, diplomats, human-rights groups, labor advocates…

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