The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, began a six-day visit to China on Monday in which he will travel to Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of persecuting the Uyghur minority.
Is about the first time in nearly two decades that a UN human rights authority has visited that country.
“I look forward to the exchanges I will have with several different people during my visit. I will deal with some very important and sensitive issues. Hope this helps us build trustBachelet said in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
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Bachelet held virtual meetings with the heads of some 70 foreign missions in Chinaaccording to diplomatic sources, who said that the High Commissioner gave guarantees of their access to detention centers and defenders of freedoms.
China has been accused of jailing a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, which the United States and others countries have called “genocide”.
Beijing has rejected that label and called it “the lie of the century”while ensuring that its policies have made it possible to combat extremism and improve life in the area.
The spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, welcomed Bachelet on Monday and stated that both parties have decided that there are no reporters during their meetings and trips around the country.
Bachelet is scheduled to meet with Chinese leaders and “maintain extensive exchanges with people from various sectors”Wang added, without elaborating.
Bachelet’s six-day trip includes visits to the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar in Xinjiang, as well as to the southern Canton.
Since 2018, UN authorities have held negotiations with the Chinese government to ensure “unlimited and relevant access” to Xinjiang before the trip was announced in March. In contrast, activists they fear that Bachelet will have a controlled visit avoid the key issues.
No access
Hopes for a thorough investigation into human rights abuses have been dashed by activists’ concern that the ruling Communist Party of China used the visit to cover up the alleged atrocities.
With hundreds of thousands of detainees and numerous mosques closed or destroyed, Xinjiang authorities seem to have turned their focus in recent years to economic developmentaccording to academics and Uyghurs outside of China.
“Now there is not much evidence of repression,” said Peter Irwin of the Uyghur Human Rights Project.
Human rights groups have warned that state surveillance and fear of reprisals will prevent Uyghurs on site from speaking freely to the UN team.
“We are afraid that the visit will be manipulated by the Chinese government to cover up serious abuses in Xinjiangsaid Maya Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Many activists have questioned The former Chilean president, who was tortured during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, has not spoken more firmly on Xinjiang.
Washington expressed concern on Friday about “Bachelet’s continued silence in the face of indisputable evidence of atrocities in Xinjiang”.
His refusal to criticize could reflect Beijing’s powerful influence at the UN, according to Irwin. “We have no expectations” that “necessary access be granted to conduct a full and unmanipulated assessment,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Hundreds of Uyghurs abroad have demonstrated in recent weeks to urge Bachelet to visit her detained relatives.
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From their side, the Chinese official media seem to have activated the propaganda machine. The Xinhua news agency on Monday praised “remarkable progress” in human rights in the country.
In another article, denied all forced laborarguing that people from Xinjiang freely choose to go to other parts of China to work because of better wages and job opportunities.
