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Human rights in China
ChinaDiplomacy

UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet lands in China for trip to Xinjiang

  • US envoy expresses concerns about attempts by Beijing to manipulate the visit
  • Activist says: ‘Whatever she sees in China will be carefully choreographed, but I do hope that she can see the reality’

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A child rests near the entrance to a mosque in Kashgar where a banner in red reads “Love the party, Love the country”. Photo: AP
Guo Rui
Michelle Bachelet arrived in China on Monday for a six-day trip – the first to the country by a United Nations human rights commissioner since 2005.
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Bachelet landed in the southern city of Guangzhou and will also visit Xinjiang in the country’s northwest, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

State news agency Xinhua quoted ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin as saying that China hoped the commissioner’s visit “will further promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, and play an active role in advancing the international human rights cause”.

“Chinese leaders and heads of relevant departments will meet Bachelet during her visit,” Wang said, without elaborating.

He also said China and the commissioner agreed that no reporters would accompany her on the trip.

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Agence France-Presse reported that Bachelet conducted virtual meetings with the heads of around 70 diplomatic missions in China on Monday, citing diplomatic sources in Beijing who said the commissioner gave assurances over her access to detention centres and rights defenders in China. It also said Bachelet would visit the Xinjiang cities of Kashgar and Urumqi.

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