China is allowing more than 2,000 ethnic Kazakhs to abandon their Chinese citizenship and leave the country, the Kazakh foreign ministry has said, in a sign that Beijing may be starting to feel a mounting backlash against its crackdown on Muslims in the far west region of Xinjiang.
The detention of Uighur, Kazakh and other ethnic minorities in internment camps has been an issue in neighbouring Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country of 18 million people. China is a major trading partner, and Kazakhstan’s state media had generally avoided reporting on it. But activists say pressure for action has slowly built following international media coverage. The foreign ministry press office confirmed Kazakh media reports from December that China had agreed to let more than 2,000 ethnic Kazakhs leave.
The detention of Uighur, Kazakh and other ethnic minorities in internment camps has been an issue in neighbouring Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country of 18 million people. China is a major trading partner, and Kazakhstan’s state media had generally avoided reporting on it. But activists say pressure for action has slowly built following international media coverage. The foreign ministry press office confirmed Kazakh media reports from December that China had agreed to let more than 2,000 ethnic Kazakhs leave.
