Pompeo accuses China of human rights violations

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called China's treatment of Muslims a - quote - enormous human rights violation.

Speaking to PBS on Wednesday (October 10), he said Washington will continue to raise the issue, just as the U.S. widened its trade blacklist and announced visa restrictions on Chinese officials it believes responsible for the detention or abuse of Muslim minorities.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO, SAYING: "The desire and the actions that have been taken on the ground to take down the Muslim faith, or destroy the Uighurs ethnicity in the west there in China is something that the State Department has spoken out about loudly and we hope China will change its direction, we think, we think this is not only enormous human rights violation but we don't think it's in the best interest of the world or of China to engage in this kind of behavior." China has denounced the visa action and said the U.S. accusations on human rights violations were made-up pretexts for interfering in China's affairs.

PBS NewsHour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour