‘Thug and accomplice of US’: China lambasts UN body over rights abuse report

International

oi-Deepika S

Beijing,
Sep
01:
China
on
Thursday
vehemently
rejected
a
UN
Human
Rights
body
report
which
alleged
serious
abuses
Uyghurs
Muslims
in
Xinjiang.
Responding
to
the
report
beijing
said
that
the
United
Nations
rights
office
was
the
“thug
and
accomplice”
of
the
US.

“The
so-called
critical
report
you
mentioned
is
planned
and
manufactured
firsthand
by
the
US
and
some
Western
forces,
it
is
wholly
illegal
and
invalid,”
foreign
ministry
spokesman
Wang
Wenbin
told
a
regular
briefing.

“The
report
is
a
hodgepodge
of
misinformation,
and
it
is
a
political
tool
used
as
part
of
the
West’s
strategy
of
using
Xinjiang
to
control
China,”
he
added.

Wang
said
the
UN
rights
office
had
“sunk
to
(becoming)
the
thug
and
accomplice
of
the
US
and
the
West
against
the
vast
majority
of
developing
countries”.

The
statement
comes
after
the
United
Nations
human
rights
chief
released
a
long-awaited
report
on
crimes
against
humanity
in
China’s
Xinjiang
region.

China
may
have
committed
crimes
against
humanity
in
Xinjiang:
UN
report

The
report
called
for
an
urgent
international
response
over
allegations
of
torture
and
other
rights
violations
in
Beijing’s
campaign
to
root
out
terrorism.

UN
human
rights
chief
Michelle
Bachelet
brushed
aside
China’s
calls
for
the
office
to
withhold
the
report,
which
follows
her
own
trip
to
Xinjiang
in
May
and
which
Beijing’s
contends
is
part
of
a
Western
campaign
to
smear
China’s
reputation.
The
report
has
fanned
a
tug-of-war
for
diplomatic
influence
with
the
West
over
the
rights
of
the
region’s
native
Uyghurs
and
other
predominantly
Muslim
ethnic
groups.

The
report,
which
Western
diplomats
and
UN
officials
said
had
been
all
but
ready
for
months,
was
published
with
just
minutes
to
go
in
Bachelet’s
four-year
term.
It
was
unexpected
to
break
significant
new
ground
beyond
sweeping
findings
from
independent
advocacy
groups
and
journalists
who
have
documented
concerns
about
human
rights
in
Xinjiang
for
years.
But
Bachelet’s
report
comes
with
the
imprimatur
of
the
United
Nations,
and
the
member
states
that
make
it
up.

The
run-up
to
its
release
fuelled
a
debate
over
China’s
influence
at
the
world
body
and
epitomized
the
on-and-off
diplomatic
chill
between
Beijing
and
the
West
over
human
rights,
among
other
sore
spots.

Hours
before
the
release,
China’s
UN
ambassador,
Zhang
Jun,
said
Beijing
remained
“firmly
opposed”
to
the
release.

At
UN,
China
delays
India,
US
bid
to
sanction
terrorist
behind
Kandahar
hijacking

In
the
past
five
years,
the
Chinese
government’s
mass
detention
campaign
in
Xinjiang
swept
an
estimated
million
Uyghurs
and
other
ethnic
groups
into
a
network
of
prisons
and
camps,
which
Beijing
called
“training
centres”
but
former
detainees
described
as
brutal
detention
centres.
Beijing
has
since
closed
many
of
the
camps,
but
hundreds
of
thousands
continue
to
languish
in
prison
on
vague,
secret
charges.

Some
countries,
including
the
United
States,
have
accused
Beijing
of
committing
genocide
in
Xinjiang.