China has urged U.N. member states to refrain from participating in next week’s planned crackdown by Germany, the United States and Britain on Uighur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang.
“This is a politically motivated event,” the Chinese mission to the United Nations wrote in a report on Thursday, according to an exclusive report by Reuters on Friday. “We ask your mission not to participate in this anti-China event.”
China accused the organizers of the event, which included several other European countries as well as Australia and Canada, of using “human rights issues as a political tool to interfere in China’s internal affairs, such as in Xinjiang, to create division and unrest and undermine China’s development.”
The statement said, “They are obsessed with provoking confrontation with China and say provocative incidents will only lead to more confrontation.”
The U.S., German and British ambassadors will address the virtual U.N. event on Wednesday, and Ken Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, and Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, will also attend. Callamard will also be present.
The purpose of the event is to “invite the UN system, Member States and civil society to discuss ways to support and advocate for the human rights of members of the Turkic community in Xinjiang.”
Western countries and human rights groups have accused Xinjiang authorities of detaining and torturing Uighurs in detention camps, which the U.S. has called genocide. In January, Washington banned imports of cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang over allegations of forced labor.
Beijing denies the allegations and describes the camps as a vocational training center to combat religious extremism.
For years, Beijing has been trying to silence the government, but the strategy has failed as more and more countries have begun to express fear and loathing of Chinese crimes against Uighurs and other Muslims of Turkic origin,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director of Human Rights Watch. ”
Recent Comments