That sentence is from the POV of the article’s author, not the POV of the state dept’s lawyers.

The Biden team during the campaign reached the conclusion that China had carried out genocide several months before Pompeo’s declaration. In August 2020, Biden’s presidential campaign issued a statement concluding that China’s mass internment of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang amounts to “genocide.” Blinken reiterated that view during his confirmation hearing. Pressed on whether he agreed with Pompeo’s assertion that genocide occurred in Xinjiang, Blinken answered, “That would be my judgment as well.”

But Thomas-Greenfield, however, appeared to hedge during a subsequent confirmation hearing, saying that while the situation “feels like” genocide, she was awaiting the findings of a State Department review. “I know the State Department is reviewing that as we speak,” she said, before later aligning her position with Blinken’s.

“Secretary Blinken and I have made clear that genocide has been committed against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” she wrote in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio.

Did you read ANY of the article you posted, or do you just read headlines?