No re-education camps in Xinjiang – China ambassador

“PARTICULAR countries, driven by ideology and acting like a moral lecturer, are using human rights as a political tool to intentionally attack developing countries and brutally interfere with their internal affairs,” Chinese Ambassador Lin Songtian told the media at the Chinese Embassy’s International Women’s Day celebration in Pretoria yesterday.

Lin was responding to articles in the media which have recently attacked China’s policy in Xinjiang. Some articles have accused it of hampering religious freedom in Xinjiang, and the US and some countries have accused China’s vocational training programmes in Xinjiang of racial segregation, religious persecution, and of being re-education camps.

Lin has called such criticism “baseless” and encouraged people to visit the country to see for themselves what the situation is on the ground.

He said the region had received more than 100 million tourists in 2017 from within and abroad. Lin said diplomatic envoys from India, Russia, Malaysia, Kuwait and other countries had recently visited Xinjiang and interacted with its people.

“The minority ethnic population in Xinjiang enjoy full religious freedom as evidenced by 24 400 mosques, which is more than double the combined number of mosques in the US (around 2 000), UK (around 1 750), Germany (around 3 000) and France (around 2 500).

Lin claims the government is concerned about ethnic separatist activities and violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, and its intention is to fight against terrorism and safeguard social stability in the area.

He said this necessitates facilitating local development and improving people’s living standards as part of a new model of countering terrorism based on prevention.

“We have established vocational technical training schools to offer free training programmes for local youths, including those who have committed minor offences.

“We have organised programmes for them to learn the Chinese national language, laws and regulations, and professional skills to get better jobs.”

According to Lin, youth who have committed minor offences are given the option of either going to jail or to school in order to prepare them for the world of work.

The UN, meanwhile, has requested direct access to “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet has said she wants to verify “worrying reports” it has received.

Bachelet said the UN had offered technical assistance in dealing with violent extremism saying, “We wish to engage China in a serious dialogue on this pressing matter.”

Bachelet, the German Commissioner for Human Rights Policy, said she was refused permission to visit the camps during a trip to China.

“China believes the most important human rights are to guarantee people’s rights to subsistence and development, to secure people’s fundamental rights to food, shelter, work, school and health care.

“After four decades of reform we have lifted 750 million people out of poverty,” Lin said.

China claims that by 2020 poverty will be completely eliminated across the entire 1.4 billion population.

This is the first time the ambassador has spoken out and given extensive commentary on the Xinjiang issue after criticism on the issue appeared in a number of South African newspapers quoting Western media sources.