NUR-SULTAN / ex ASTANA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Kazakhstan on Sunday to join Washington in pressing Beijing over its treatment of Muslim minorities, a sensitive matter for Astana which has close ties with its neighbour China.

Speaking on a visit to the capital Nur-Sultan (ex Astana), Pompeo said he has raised the matter in talks with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi. “We discussed trafficking in persons and the plight of more one million Uighur Muslims and ethnic Kazakhs that the Chinese Communist Party has detained in Xinjiang, just across the Kazakh border”, Pompeo said, adding “The United States urges all countries to join us in pressing for an immediate end to this repression. We ask simply for them to provide safe refuge and asylum to those seeking to flee China.”

The United Nations and human rights groups estimate between 1 and 2&bvsp;mln people, mostly ethnic Uighurs, have been detained in harsh conditions as part of what Beijing calls an anti-terrorism campaign. Pompeo wrote on Twitter he met families of ethnic Kazakhs detained in China’s Xinjiang province, and praised Kazakhstan for not forcing asylum-seekers to return to China.

Tleuberdi made no comment on the Uighur issue and focused instead on economic and security cooperation.

In addition, Pompeo announced the United States was helping Kazakhstan protect itself against the coronavirus outbreak originating from China.

China has repeatedly denied any mistreatment of Uighurs and says the camps provide “vocational training”. It describes the detainees as “students”.