The Chinese government has issued veiled threats to Australia's national broadcaster that diplomatic relations could be damaged if the ABC broadcasts a report from its Beijing-based correspondent Stephen McDonell, according to ABC sources.

The report, which is due to air on the ABC's Foreign Correspondent program on Tuesday night, deals with the Chinese government's increasingly harsh crackdown on the Uighurs, a small Muslim community in the far-western province of Xinjiang.

The Uighurs, who are seeking an independent homeland, have been the subject of a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities.