The White House acknowledges an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese Communist Party, ending days of stubborn resistance by the State Department to say such an atrocity is happening in the present tense.

The concession by President Biden’s team, which is sure to have significant geopolitical implications, realigns its view to match that of the Trump administration in the latter’s final day in power, when then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a bulletin that he believed there was an “ongoing” genocide against the estimated 1 million to 2 million Uyghurs and other religious minorities in Xinjiang in western China, where they have been placed in detention centers across the region.