“A political tool” written by “henchmen” of the West: China strongly denounced Thursday the report published by the UN on violations of the rights of Muslim Uighurs in the Chinese region of Xinjiang.
This long text of nearly 50 pages “is completely illegal and invalid”, lambasted during a regular press conference Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“This report is a collection of disinformation and a political tool in the service of the strategy of the United States and the West, which aims to use Xinjiang to hinder (the development) of China” he underlined.
Despite pressure from Beijing, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a long-awaited report on the situation in Xinjiang on Wednesday evening.
A mixture of interviews carried out by his services and first or second-hand information, he evokes the possibility of “crimes against humanity” in the region.
Xinjiang and the rest of China have long been plagued by bloody attacks targeting civilians. They were committed, according to the authorities, by Uighur separatists and Islamists – the main ethnic group in the region.
In response, the authorities have launched a relentless campaign in the name of anti-terrorism for several years, with omnipresent military police, identity checks and a vast network of surveillance cameras.
Western studies accuse Beijing of having interned more than a million Uighurs and members of other Muslim ethnic groups in “re-education camps” or even of imposing “forced labor” or “forced sterilizations”.
The OHCHR created this report from scratch, relying on the political conspiracy of some anti-China forces overseas. […] This proves once again that the OHCHR has become the minion and accomplice of the United States and the West to punish […] developing countries. »
“Conspiracy”
China denounces biased reports and speaks of “vocational training centers” intended to develop employment and eradicate extremism. She denies any “forced sterilization”, saying only to apply the national birth control policy.
The UN report does not corroborate the figure of one million people, but notes that “a significant proportion” of Uighurs and members of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have been interned.
It describes a “pattern of large-scale arbitrary detention” in the region “from at least 2017 to 2019” in high-security facilities.
“The extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of the Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim groups […] may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” the report said.
Unsurprisingly, Beijing condemned the terms used.
“The OHCHR created this report from scratch, relying on the political conspiracy of some anti-China forces overseas. This is a serious violation of OHCHR’s responsibilities, principles of universality, non-selectivity, objectivity and non-politicization,” Wang Wenbin blasted.
“This proves once again that the OHCHR has become the minion and accomplice of the United States and the West to punish […] developing countries. »
“Completely deflated”
Without confirming them, the UN report also considers “credible” the accusations of torture, sexual violence and even rape in internment establishments in Xinjiang.
“It is not possible to draw broader conclusions as to whether there have been broader patterns of sexual violence” and gender-related, however notes the UN.
However, the report does not mention the word “genocide”. This term is used by the United States, but also the French National Assembly or the representations of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or Canada.
“This shows that the lies fabricated by the United States and the West have completely deflated,” Chinese spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.
The Chilean Michelle Bachelet, whose last day was Wednesday at the head of the High Commissioner after a four-year mandate, thus keeps her promise in extremis by having published the document shortly before midnight in Geneva.
New survey
If it does not contain revelations, this report brings the seal of the UN to the accusations leveled for a long time against the Chinese authorities.
Its publication had been the subject of intense pressure.
Human rights organizations and the United States, which has named China as its strategic rival, wanted to make it public.
Conversely, Beijing strongly opposed it and had again denounced on Wednesday, shortly before the publication of the report, a “farce orchestrated by the United States and some Western countries”.
Reactions within Uighur organizations based abroad are mixed. Some welcome the report, but others would have liked it to go further in its condemnation of Beijing.
“This is a game-changer for the Uyghur cause internationally,” said Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project. “The UN has just officially recognized that horrible crimes are being committed”.
But Salih Hudayar, a Uighur based in the United States where he is campaigning for Xinjiang independence, told AFP the report “unfortunately is not as strong as we had hoped”.
On the diplomatic front, Germany on Thursday urged China “to immediately grant all inhabitants” of the region “the full exercise of their human rights” and “to authorize a new independent investigation” on its territory.