WASHINGTON — The United States is "deeply disturbed" by reports of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in China's Xinjiang region and there must be serious consequences for atrocities committed there, the US State Department said on Wednesday (Feb 3).

A BBC report earlier on Wednesday said women in the camps were subject to rape, sexual abuse and torture. The British broadcaster said "several former detainees and a guard have told the BBC they experienced or saw evidence of an organized system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture."

Asked to comment, a State Department spokeswoman said: "We are deeply disturbed by reports, including first-hand testimony, of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang."

The spokeswoman reiterated US charges that China has committed "crimes against humanity and genocide" in Xinjiang and added: "These atrocities shock the conscience and must be met with serious consequences."

The official said China should allow "immediate and independent investigations by international observers" into the rape allegations "in addition to the other atrocities being committed in Xinjiang."

Beijing denies accusations of abuse in Xinjiang, and has said the complexes it set up in the region provided vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism. Those in the facilities have since "graduated", it says.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the BBC report was "wholly without factual basis" and charged that the people interviewed for it had been "proved multiple times" to be "actors disseminating false information."

The administration of US President Joe Biden, which took office on Jan 20, has endorsed a determination made the previous day by the outgoing Trump administration that China has committed genocide in Xinjiang.

Last year, a report by a German researcher published by a Washington think tank accused China of using forced sterilization, forced abortion and coercive family planning against minority Muslims. REUTERS