We have campuses, not camps: China tells United Nations
BEIJING: CHINA has firmly rejected accusations of large-scale human rights abuses against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, claiming at a UN session that so-called mass detention centres in the province are merely training “campuses” that would eventually be downsized.
China’s vice-foreign minister, Le Yucheng, leading a delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday, called international criticism against the “campuses” as “ill-intentioned accusations against vocational training centres in Xinjiang”.
“The training centres… are actually boarding schools or campuses, and not camps as claimed by the ill-intentioned few,” Le was quoted by news agencies as saying.
He emphasised Beijing’s official line that the “camps” were set up to educate and rehabilitate locals susceptible to falling “prey to terrorist extremism”.
He claimed that there had been “thousands” of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang since the 1990s, but thanks to the use of the “vocational training centres”, not a single attack had taken place in the past 27 months.
“As the counterterrorism situation improves, the training programme will be gradually downsized, leading to its completion,” he said.
CHINA NAMES, SHAMES LOCAL TECH BRANDS
A number of Chinese companies have been accused of breaching privacy rights, illegally collecting personal data and making toys from medical waste, among other violations, in an annual state TV expose on consumer rights held on Friday.
The national broadcaster, China Central Television, didn’t name any foreign brand.
The consumer show, called 315, has in the past called out Apple, Nike and Volkswagen for violating consumer rights and misleading customers.