EVANGELICAL anthropologist Adrian Zenz is being sued by a number of companies and individuals in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region for losses and reputational damage.

Civil lawsuits were filed at a local court this week demanding he apologise for smears made in what they have described as “fake reports” over the use of forced labour.

They are also demanding compensation after his reports led to some countries and companies suspending deals to import cotton from Xinjiang amid claims of human rights abuses.

Mr Zenz, who believes he is on a mission from God to save the world from the Chinese Communist Party, has previously challenged his detractors to take him to court, saying he is prepared to defend his research.

The case has been taken up on the grounds that lawsuits can be brought against him under “protective jurisdiction.” This allows a Chinese entity to prosecute a foreign entity according to Chinese laws, even if overseas, if the latter violates the former’s interests.

The group filing the complaints is being supported by the Chinese government. On Tuesday Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it backed those seeking to protect their legal rights and the rule of law.

“Zenz and the anti-China forces behind him will face justice,” he said at a press conference.

Reports by Mr Zenz are being used as the basis for claims of genocide and human rights atrocities by a number of Western countries as they escalate a new Cold War against China.

He is on the advisory board of a new report released on Monday by the Washington DC-based think tank Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, whose claims to be independent are undermined by the involvement of individuals linked to US intelligence agencies.

Mr Zenz has released a number of sensationalist reports which make claims of forced sterilisation (dubbed “genocide” in some narratives) against Xinjiang’s Uighur population based on a handful of highly contested examples.

While none of his research has been peer-reviewed, several claims do not appear to be backed by evidence. His insistence that 80 percent of the IUD contraceptive devices fitted in China occurred in Xinjiang province, for example, has been proved inaccurate. 

Data from the National Health Commission showed that in 2018 the number of IUD placements nationwide was 3,774,318 and for Xinjiang it was 328,475. New surgeries in Xinjiang only accounted for 8.7 percent of the national total.

Likewise Mr Zenz’s claim that one million Uighurs are held in concentration camps, which has now become mainstream, is based on speculative information from interviews with just eight people.