China has sharply rejected the criticism of 22 countries in the persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as interference in internal affairs. Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang accused them today of „unjustified accusations“ and a „politicization of human rights“ in front of the press in Beijing.
He responded to a letter from the 22 countries to the President of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, calling on China to end mass arrests and surveillance of minorities in the Xinjiang region of northeastern China. China should abide by its own laws and international obligations as well as protect human rights and religious freedom.
Unusual approach
Signed diplomats from Australia, Japan, France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The procedure is unusual. Normally, countries bring in resolutions that council members discuss and vote on. Because of the feared Chinese protests have chosen a different path, they said.
China had rejected allegations of mass internment by the Uyghurs and other Muslims at the beginning of the session of the UN Human Rights Council at the end of June. The re-education camps are described as vocational training centers. But it is also admitted that the internees should be dissuaded from extremist thoughts.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch estimates that one million people in Xinjiang are in reeducation camps, most of them Uighurs. They are ethnically related to the Turks and feel oppressed by the ruling Han Chinese. After their takeover in Beijing in 1949, the Communists had incorporated the former East Turkestan China. The Beijing government accuses Uighur groups of separatism and terrorism.
