Even as the envoys of the United States, Germany and Britain are about to address a UN meeting event on next Wednesday in which they will speak up against the human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Beijing has warned the UN member states not to attend the event.
The UN meeting, which will also be addressed by Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth and Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard, is set to discuss 'how the U.N. system, member states and civil society can support and advocate for the human rights of members of ethnic Turkic communities in Xinjiang."
"It is a politically-motivated event ... We request your mission NOT to participate in this anti-China event," China's UN mission said.
'Obsessed with Provoking Confrontation with China'
China further said the organizers use human rights issues as a 'political tool' to interfere in China's internal affairs like Xinjiang, and "create division and turbulence and disrupt China's development".
"They are obsessed with provoking confrontation with China ... The provocative event can only lead to more confrontation," the Chinese mission said. Alongside the US, Germany and Britain, several other European states as well as Australia and Canada are also backing the move against China.
China has consistently been accused of using heavy-handed policies to control the Muslim minority Uighur population in its Xinjiang province. The crackdown on the Uighurs are premised on the belief that hardline religious affiliation of the group is a hindrance to national unity. The re-education and cultural assimilation camps run for the Uighurs are often seen as tools of oppression.
Uighur Oppression
Some countries and rights groups have termed the Uighur oppression as even genocide. However, China has denied these accusations and stuck to the line that it is only tacking the religious extremism of the Uighur Muslims.
"Beijing has been trying for years to bully governments into silence but that strategy has failed miserably, as more and states step forward to voice horror and revulsion at China's crimes against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims," Human Rights Watch U.N. director Louis Charbonneau said on Friday, according to Reuters.
