China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet that he hopes his visit will “clear up misinformation” about China’s human rights record. .
Key points:
- Rights groups fear Ms. Bachelet’s six-day visit will help whitewash China’s human rights abuses
- The UN and China have banned foreign media from accompanying him
- It is unclear who he will meet and how much access he will be granted during his visit
Mr. Wang and Ms. Bachelet met on Monday in the southern city of Guangzhou as they embarked on a trip that is the first in China by a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights since 2005.
His six-day investigative visit focuses on allegations of abuse against Muslim minorities in the northwestern Xinjiang region, but human rights groups fear his visit will help whitewash the abuses.
China is accused of shutting down a million or more members of Uighur, Kazakh and other Muslim minorities in what critics describe as a campaign to erase their different cultural identities.
China says it has nothing to hide and welcomes all those without political prejudices to visit Xinjiang and see what it describes as a successful campaign to fight terrorism and restore order and ethnic cohesion.
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During the meeting, Mr. Wang expressed “hope that this trip will help improve understanding and cooperation and clarify misinformation,” according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From Guangzhou, Ms. Bachelet will travel to Kashgar, once a stop on the Silk Road, and Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
The UN and China have banned foreign media from accompanying Ms Bachelet, and it is unclear who she will meet and what access she will be granted during her visit.
The UN quoted Ms. Bachelet as saying. Wang was looking forward to exchanges with “many different people during my visit, especially with government officials, business leaders, academics, students and members of civil society working on human rights and other economic issues.”
“While we will be talking about sensitive and important issues, I hope this will help us build trust and allow us to work together to advance human rights in China and globally,” Ms. Bachelet said.
“Wang noted that in order to advance the international cause of human rights, we must first respect each other and refrain from politicizing human rights,” the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. on your website.
“Multilateral human rights institutions should serve as an important place for cooperation and dialogue rather than a new battleground for division and confrontation,” the ministry said.
Rights groups are concerned that if Ms. Bachelet does not put enough pressure on China, her post-trip report may not give a full picture and could be used by Beijing to justify its actions in Xinjiang.
The Uyghur World Congress urged Ms Bachelet in a letter to ensure that her team could move freely, access all detention centers and have unsupervised contact with Uighurs.
“We are concerned that the trip could do more harm than good. China could use it for propaganda purposes,” said spokesman Zumretay Arkin.
The Communist Party of China government does not allow any political opposition and strictly restricts freedom of expression, along with rights of assembly and religious expression.
China is also one of the five permanent vetoed members of the UN Security Council and has signed but not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights administered by Ms. Bachelet’s office.
Beijing has also been criticized for its refusal to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as its harsh “COVID zero” approach to the pandemic that has disrupted the lives of tens of millions of citizens and global supply.
ABC / children