Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, China would welcome the United Nations (UN) officials to its western region of Xinjiang only if they follows the proper rules and procedures, amid a global concern on Beijing’s de-radicalization program.
According to news reports, when asked about confirmation that China had invited UN experts to China’s Xinjiang, at a regular briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said all the parties including the UN were welcomed to Xinjiang as long as they do not disrespect the policies and respect appropriate travel procedures.
Lu Kang said the UN officials should also need to “avoid interfering in domestic matters” and adopt the neutral attitude and an objective.
Michelle Bachelet, the top U.N. human rights official, has in December said that her office was seeking access to the region (Xinjiang) to verify “worrying reports” of the re-education camps which held Muslim minorities and also Turkic speaking Uighurs.
A UN human rights panel had said in August, that it had received a credible reports of million or more of Uighurs including minorities in Xinjiang were being held there, what look alike a “massive internment camp”.
In a response to an outcry from the UN rights experts, foreign governments, activists and scholars, Beijing has launched an increasing active publicity campaign in order to defend its own actions in Xinjiang.
The Chinese government has, in the recent two weeks, welcomed diplomats from 12 non-western countries to visit Xinjiang, as well as organized a small trip for a group of reporters, including Reuters, to the three facilities, which they termed as vocational education training centres.
Xinjiang officials told the agency Reuters on the trip that de-radicalization program had been very much successful but also fewer people would be now sent through the system in the future.