VANCOUVER—The two Canadians were walking down a sidewalk in their neighbourhood in Turpan, a city in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, when everyone seemed to freeze. A Uyghur man had accidentally tripped over a police officer’s foot. The man, who was in his...

It is just three months since former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during his final day in office, branded China’s actions against the Muslim Uyghur minority in western Xinjiang as genocide. He provided no evidence for the accusation and made no attempt to justify the use of the term...