BEIJING: The UN human rights chief on Monday began a six-day visit to China that will include remote xinjiang In the region, stoking fears about access and propaganda give importance to the Chinese Communist Party’s offer of travel.
Michelle Bachelet’s visit is the first visit by a top UN authority official in nearly two decades and comes as Beijing There have been allegations of widespread mistreatment of Muslims in far-western Xinjiang.
The ruling Communist Party is accused of detaining more than one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities as part of a year-long security crackdown that the United States calls a “genocide”.
China vehemently denied the allegations, calling them the “lies of the century”.
According to diplomatic sources in Beijing, Bachelet held virtual meetings on Monday with the heads of about 70 diplomatic missions in China, who they said assured their access to detention centers and rights guards.
Later in the week, she is scheduled to travel to the Xinjiang cities of Urumqi and Kashgar, as well as the southern city of Guangzhou.
Welcoming Bachelet’s visit, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that her visit takes place in a “closed-loop” because of the pandemic and that the two sides do not agree that reporters will not pursue the visit.
Without giving further details, Wang said he looked forward to meeting Chinese leaders and “extensive exchanges with people from different regions”.
UN officials have been locked in talks with the Chinese government since 2018 to secure “unfettered, meaningful access” to Xinjiang.
But fears of a whitewash offering a tightly controlled glimpse into life in the region have been stymied, which China says it has pacified with “re-education centres” and uplifted with an economic rejuvenation campaign.
The United States led the criticism ahead of its visit, saying it was “deeply concerned” that Bachelet had failed to secure guarantees on what it could see.
“We do not expect the PRC to provide the necessary access needed to conduct a full, unmanned assessment of the human rights environment in Xinjiang,” state Department Spokesman Ned Price told reporters, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Instead of a thorough investigation into the alleged abuses, rights advocates also fear that Bachelet is gearing up for a stage-managed tour.
Amnesty International secretary general Agnes Callamard said her visit would be “an ongoing battle against the Chinese government’s efforts to hide the truth”.
“The United Nations must take steps to reduce it and oppose it being used to support open propaganda.”
The last such visit was in 2005, when Beijing was eager to soften its global image by hosting the 2008 Olympic Games – but much has changed since then.
President Xi Jinping has become the most authoritarian Chinese leader in a generation and is working on securing an unprecedented third term later this year.
In addition to mass detentions, Chinese authorities have launched a campaign of forced labor, forced sterilization and destruction of Uighur cultural heritage in Xinjiang, researchers and campaigners say.
Chinese state media has given silent coverage of the visit so far.
But an article on Sunday by the state news agency Xinhua has He lauded the country’s “remarkable achievements in respect and protection of human rights”.
A more offensive article on CGTN – the English-language arm of China’s state broadcaster – called it a “false Xinjiang narrative” of the West and questioned the basis of the allegations.
Michelle Bachelet’s visit is the first visit by a top UN authority official in nearly two decades and comes as Beijing There have been allegations of widespread mistreatment of Muslims in far-western Xinjiang.
The ruling Communist Party is accused of detaining more than one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities as part of a year-long security crackdown that the United States calls a “genocide”.
China vehemently denied the allegations, calling them the “lies of the century”.
According to diplomatic sources in Beijing, Bachelet held virtual meetings on Monday with the heads of about 70 diplomatic missions in China, who they said assured their access to detention centers and rights guards.
Later in the week, she is scheduled to travel to the Xinjiang cities of Urumqi and Kashgar, as well as the southern city of Guangzhou.
Welcoming Bachelet’s visit, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that her visit takes place in a “closed-loop” because of the pandemic and that the two sides do not agree that reporters will not pursue the visit.
Without giving further details, Wang said he looked forward to meeting Chinese leaders and “extensive exchanges with people from different regions”.
UN officials have been locked in talks with the Chinese government since 2018 to secure “unfettered, meaningful access” to Xinjiang.
But fears of a whitewash offering a tightly controlled glimpse into life in the region have been stymied, which China says it has pacified with “re-education centres” and uplifted with an economic rejuvenation campaign.
The United States led the criticism ahead of its visit, saying it was “deeply concerned” that Bachelet had failed to secure guarantees on what it could see.
“We do not expect the PRC to provide the necessary access needed to conduct a full, unmanned assessment of the human rights environment in Xinjiang,” state Department Spokesman Ned Price told reporters, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Instead of a thorough investigation into the alleged abuses, rights advocates also fear that Bachelet is gearing up for a stage-managed tour.
Amnesty International secretary general Agnes Callamard said her visit would be “an ongoing battle against the Chinese government’s efforts to hide the truth”.
“The United Nations must take steps to reduce it and oppose it being used to support open propaganda.”
The last such visit was in 2005, when Beijing was eager to soften its global image by hosting the 2008 Olympic Games – but much has changed since then.
President Xi Jinping has become the most authoritarian Chinese leader in a generation and is working on securing an unprecedented third term later this year.
In addition to mass detentions, Chinese authorities have launched a campaign of forced labor, forced sterilization and destruction of Uighur cultural heritage in Xinjiang, researchers and campaigners say.
Chinese state media has given silent coverage of the visit so far.
But an article on Sunday by the state news agency Xinhua has He lauded the country’s “remarkable achievements in respect and protection of human rights”.
A more offensive article on CGTN – the English-language arm of China’s state broadcaster – called it a “false Xinjiang narrative” of the West and questioned the basis of the allegations.