Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday urged countries to resist China’s demands to repatriate ethnic minorities that face oppression in the country. He made the comments while meeting with foreign ministers from the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan during the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Pompeo was specifically discussing the repatriation of ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority group, that, along with other Muslim minority groups, have been detained in camps in the remote Xinjiang region of China.

China calls the detention sites “vocational” centers, and has rejected criticism of their existence. The Secretary of State said the centers are an attempt to eliminate the group. “I want to make clear that China’s repressive campaign in Xinjiang is not about terrorism. It’s about China’s attempt to erase its own citizens,” Pompeo said. “...We call on all countries to resist China’s demands to repatriate the Uighurs.”