China rejects UN Rights Office’s Xinjiang Report

According to U.N. officials and Western diplomats, the report was almost ready for months. It was published just minutes before Bachelet’s four-year term ended.

 

Michelle Bachelet, U.N. human right chief, published Wednesday’s long-awaited report about alleged rights violations in China’s western Xinjiang area. Beijing refused to allow the publication of the report. This report sparked a diplomatic tug-of-war with the West over rights of Uyghurs from the region and other predominantly Muslim ethnicities.

According to Western diplomats, the report was almost ready for months and U.N. officials claimed it had been published in just minutes during Bachelet’s four-year term. It was surprising that the report broke new ground beyond the extensive findings of independent advocacy groups and journalists who had documented concerns about human rights in Xinjiang over many years.

Bachelet’s report is endorsed by the United Nations and its member states. Its release was followed by a heated debate about China’s influence in the international body. This led to a lot of discussions and exemplified the intermittent diplomatic tension between Beijing and the West regarding human rights.

China’s U.N. released the news hours before it was due. Zhang Jun, China’s Ambassador, stated that Beijing is “firmly opposed” to the release.

Zhang said that while they have not yet seen the report, “we are absolutely opposed to such a document, we do believe it will not produce any good for anyone.” Zhang spoke to reporters from outside the Security Council. “We have repeatedly stated our opposition to this report to the high commissioner as well as to other people on numerous occasions.”

He said, “We all know that the so-called Xinjiang problem is a completely fabricated issue out of political motives and its purpose is certainly to undermine China’s stability and to obstruct China’s development.”

Bachelet stated that she was under pressure from both sides in recent months to publish the report. She resisted the pressure, walking a fine line while referring to her experiences with political squeeze during her two terms of presidency of Chile.

Bachelet stated in June that she wouldn’t seek another term as rights chief and that the report would be available by her departure date of Aug. 31. Back-channel campaigns rose dramatically, with letters coming in from civil society, civilians, and governments from both sides of this issue. Last week, she suggested that her office might miss the deadline and said it was “trying” to release it before she left.