UK accuses China of 'gross' abuses against Uighurs
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has accused China of "gross and egregious" human rights abuses against its Uighur population and said sanctions against those responsible can't be ruled out.
Reports of forced sterilization and wider persecution of the Muslim group were "similar to something not seen for some time", he told the BBC.
The UK would work using its allies to take appropriate action, he insisted.
China's UK ambassador said talk of concentration camps was "fake".
Liu Xiaoming told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the Uighurs received the same treatment beneath the law as other ethnic groups in his country.
Shown drone footage that seems to show Uighurs being blindfolded and resulted in trains, and which includes been authenticated by Australian security services, he said he "didn't know" what the video was showing and "sometimes you have a transfer of prisoners, in any country".
"There is absolutely no such concentration camps in Xinjiang," he added. "There's a lot of fake accusations against China."
It really is believed that up to million Uighur people have already been detained over the past few years in what the Chinese state defines as "re-education camps".
China previously denied the existence of the camps, before defending them as a necessary measure against terrorism, following separatist violence in the Xinjiang region.
The authorities have recently been accused of forcing women to be sterilised or fitted with contraceptive devices in an apparent attempt to limit the populace, prompting demands the UN to research.
'Deeply troubling'
Asked whether the treatment of the Uighurs met the legal definition of genocide, Mr Raab said the international community needed to be "careful" prior to making such claims.
But he said: "Whatever the legal label, it really is clear that gross, egregious human rights abuses are going on.
"It really is deeply, deeply troubling and the reports on the human facet of this - from forced sterilization to the training camps - are reminiscent of something we've not seen for a long time.
"We wish a positive relationship with China but we can not see behaviour like this rather than call it out."
There are growing demands the united kingdom to impose sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans, on Chinese officials in charge of the persecution of the Uighurs.
A petition backing the move has amassed more than 100,000 signatures, meaning it'll be considered for debate in Parliament.
