​Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out China for trying to “erase its own citizens,” criticizing the country’s treatment of its ethnic Uighurs minority.

“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 told reporters after meeting with the foreign ministers of five central Asian countries on Sunday in New York.

“We call on all countries to resist China’s demands to repatriate the Uighurs,” Pompeo said, according to Reuters. ​

Pompeo had been meeting with officials from Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ​and ​Tajikistan on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly.

President Trump will fly to New York Sunday night after a day trip to Texas and Ohio.

During the UNGA, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will hold a Tuesday event to discuss the “human rights crisis in Xinjiang.”

A 2018 United Nations report estimated that at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities have been detained in the northwest Chinese territory in a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy.” ​

China has defended its treatment of Uighurs by saying it faces a threat from Islamist militants.

Beijing has also pressed other governments to repatriate Uighurs who have fled.