China confirms Xinjiang visit talks with UN human rights chief
- Foreign ministry says Beijing welcomes the prospect of a trip but gives no dates
- Goal must be to promote exchanges and cooperation, ministry says
Asked about the visit on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China had been negotiating with Bachelet.
“The Chinese position has been clear and consistent that the goal of the visit is to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides. We oppose anyone who uses this matter for political manipulation.”
The UN’s top human rights official has been negotiating with Beijing since September 2018 to go to Xinjiang, where some 1 million Uygurs are alleged to have been held in mass detention camps.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office said the discussions about a possible visit in the first half of this year were continuing and it was crucial for the high commissioner to have “meaningful, unfettered access to the Xinjiang region”.
“The parameters of that visit are still being discussed. High commissioner visits are undertaken to get first-hand insight into the situation on the ground and to engage constructively with all stakeholders on the human rights situation,” Colville said.
“It is important that such a visit be meaningful, with unsupervised access to a wide range of civil society actors and locations as well as high-level engagement with government officials.”
Sources said Bachelet recently secured Beijing’s approval for a visit to the region sometime after the Games, which start on February 4, on the condition that the trip should be “friendly” in nature and not framed as an investigation.
Beijing also insisted that Bachelet’s office hold off on publishing a report into Xinjiang ahead of the Games, as requested by Washington, the sources said.
The US and some of its allies – including Britain, Canada and Australia – have said they will not send official diplomatic delegations to the Games in protest against China’s human rights record.