China takes diplomats to ‘re-education camps’ amid human rights concerns
Diplomats from 12 countries with large Muslim populations and some foreign media recently visited Xinjiang, after silence by governments across the Islamic world as China cracked down on minority Uighurs.
Envoys from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Thailand and Kuwait visited the region from December 28 to 30, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.
Reuters reported that a small group of foreign media outlets that went on a separate trip organised by the government.
The visit came as increasing scepticism over Beijing’s treatment of the Uighurs threatens its global ambitions.
Calls have grown in the West to pressure President Xi Jinping’s government to stop human-rights abuses against the Uighurs.
US politicians have proposed freezing travel and assets of top Chinese officials including Xinjiang Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo.
But it has so far escaped serious criticism from officials in the Islamic world, leading US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to berate Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for not speaking out.
“The dire human rights situation in China and the continued downward trajectory, by virtually every measure” have continued since Mr Xi came to power, a US congressional report said in October.
The UN has requested direct access to the camps, CNN reported, citing Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet.
Xinhua’s report came days after China passed a five-year work plan to sinicise Islam at a summit with Chinese Islamic associations. “They agreed to guide Islam to be compatible with socialism and implement measures to sinicise the religion,” the state-run Global Times newspaper said.
In Xinjiang’s Hetian district last month, the diplomats visited one of what the Chinese government calls vocational skills centres – but which the United Nations and rights groups say are “re-education camps” where as many as a million Muslims are interred.
At the Moyu County Vocational Skills Education and Training Centre, “students are studying the national language, national musical instruments, calligraphy and painting, legal knowledge and various employment skills in the classroom”, Xinhua said.
“The envoys asked the students about their study and life in detail, and watched the performances by the students.”
“Xinjiang is an open place,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in Beijing on Monday.
But he cautioned those on the visit to “abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and refrain from interfering in others’ internal affairs or undermining others’ sovereignty”.
“They should adopt an objective and unbiased attitude and avoid buying one-sided stories or making preconceptions. We would like to remain in contact with the relevant UN agencies and meet each other halfway,” he said.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying also hit back against 15 foreign ambassadors to China who expressed concerns over Xinjiang in a November letter, calling their actions “rude and unacceptable”.