A live broadcast late Thursday of the sixth U.S. Democratic presidential debate went black in Beijing as candidates were asked about China's human rights record in the country's west, according to CNN.
CNN correspondent Will Ripley posted a photo on Twitter of his TV screen, saying his feed cut out.
"CNN live feed of Democratic presidential debate goes to black in Beijing. Candidates were asked about China's human rights record & the mass detention of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang," Ripley wrote.
When the candidates were asked about more aggressive action against Beijing, the Democrats mostly condemned the Chinese government for its human rights abuses.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg said President Donald Trump failed to do more about the reported human rights abuses in the country.
"For him to let China know that his silence can be purchased is trashing American values," Buttigieg said. "We have to acknowledge what's going on over there, the use of technology for the perfection of dictatorship."
Former Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. should not abide by the human rights abuses of the Chinese government against the Muslim minority there.
"What we have to make clear is that we are not going to abide by what they've done. A million Uighurs are in concentration camps," Biden said.
"We should be moving 60% of our sea power to that part of the world to let, in fact, the Chinese understand that they're not going to get any further, we are going to be there to protect other folks."
Uighurs
China's western Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45% of Xinjiang's population, has long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.
China is accused of carrying out repressive policies against the Uighurs and restraining their religious, commercial and cultural rights.
Up to 1 million people, or about 7% of the Muslim population in Xinjiang, have been incarcerated in an expanding network of "political re-education" camps, according to U.S. officials and UN experts.
In a report last September, Human Rights Watch accused the Chinese government of carrying out a "systematic campaign of human rights violations" against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
China denies the charges against it, claiming Uighurs are being educated in "vocational training centers".
