Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday defended his country’s human rights record, following new press reports about cracking down on the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang.
Xinjiang (northwestern China), which has long been plagued by attacks linked to separatists and Uighur Islamists, has been the subject of repression in the name of anti-terrorism for several years.
Western studies accuse China of interning at least a million Uighurs and members of other Muslim minorities there in re-education camps, and even of imposition forced labor at forced sterilizationwhich Beijing defends itself.
On Tuesday, a consortium of 14 foreign media, including the newspaper The world, released data coming from hacking into police computers in Xinjiang, which accused Beijing of carrying out intense crackdowns on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.
These documents shed great light on the situation in Xinjiang. These include thousands of photos presented as taken detention camps and shows the face of many prisonersincluding women, minors and adults.
These revelations come as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is embarking on a much -anticipated visit to Xinjiang.
This trip promises to be difficult for Chile’s former president, who may not benefit from the free access and risks used by Chinese authorities to clean up customs, observers point out.
Human rights issues should not be political, instrumental or given double standardswarned Xi Jinping on Wednesday, in a videoconference interview with Ms. Bachelet.
Every country has a different situation which depends on its history, culture and economic development, said the strong man of Beijing.
Therefore, every country must follow its own path to human rights, according to its conditions and the needs of its citizensXi Jinping said, according to comments reported by national television CCTV.
” There is no “perfect country” when it comes to human rights. “
The public television report did not mention Xinjiang at any time.
Bachelet relies on decision -making
Meetings with President Xi and senior (Chinese) officials became important to discuss directly […] human rights concerns in China and around the worldsaid Ms. Bachelet on Twitter.
The United Nations human rights official’s trip to Xinjiang is being done with caution so far.
No details on the specific areas where Michelle Bachelet will go have been made public, raising questions about the latitude she will benefit from training on the ground.
Especially given the name of the epidemic situation in China, the UN delegation is required to include a health bubble that keeps it away from foreign journalism.
Michelle Bachelet is the first UN human rights official to visit China since 2005, after years of difficult negotiations in Beijing in terms of her visit.
According to his services, the former Chilean president will discuss members of civil society working on human rights.
Concerned, the Uyghurs of the diaspora and associations for the defense of human rights urged Ms. Bachelet not to be taken into a communications operation organized by Beijing.
Head of human rights of the United Nations should seek information from the Chinese government of people arbitrarily arrested in Xinjiang, said researcher Maya Wang, China specialist at Human Rights Watch.
China has been accused by Washington of complacency at the highest level abuses in Xinjiang against Uighurs.
We are excited at this surprising information and photosU.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday about the leak of files attributed to Chinese police.
Washington regularly accuses Beijing of being responsible for a genocide in Xinjiang.
China denounced lies of the century and presents camps as vocational training centers intended to combat religious extremism.
Source: Radio-Canada
