Congress Calls On Hilton To Halt Project On Top Of Demolished Uyghur Mosque

A U.S. congressional executive commission has called on Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to distance itself from a project in China's Xinjiang region.

The commission on China requested the company remove its name from a planned hotel to be built on a site where a Muslim mosque once stood.

The commission is concerned about reports of a Hampton by Hilton hotel being built on a site of a mosque bulldozed by China. The commission told Hilton president and chief executive Christopher Nassetta the company shouldn't allow its name to be associated with the project.

"Hilton should not allow its name to be used to perpetuate and promote the cultural erasure and repression of the millions of Uyghurs living in the XUAR," the commission said.

The U.S. has stuck to allegations China is guilty of genocide against Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It said the destruction of the mosque and other Uyghur religious and cultural sites was proof of China's crimes against humanity.

"The site is emblematic of the China government's campaign of widespread destruction of Uyghur religious and cultural sites in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and official efforts to eradicate Uyghur religious and cultural practices," the commission said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations - the nation's main Muslim advocacy group - called on Hilton shareholders to investigate and stop the project. The hotel was first reported by the Daily Telegraph in June. It said the hotel was a franchise overseen by China company Huan Peng Hotel Management. The company said it purchased the vacant lot at auction.

The commission said China had already demolished around 16,000 mosques in Xinjiang. It said about half of the religious sites in the region - including cemeteries and shrines - had been destroyed.