Australian foreign minister uses first visit in almost three years to chastise China for Xinjiang interment camps
- It is rare for foreign officials to publicly upbraid China over its human rights record during a visit to the country
Australia’s foreign minister raised China’s internment of Uygur minorities in Xinjiang at a meeting with her Chinese counterpart on Thursday as Beijing comes under increasing international scrutiny over its controversial security policy.
Marise Payne spoke after meeting with China’s chief diplomat Wang Yi on the first visit to Beijing by an Australian foreign minister in nearly three years as both countries pursue a thaw in relations.
Earlier this week, Payne said she would register “serious concerns” over the huge facilities in northwestern Xinjiang, where activists say up to one million Uygurs and other, mainly Muslim, minorities are detained in political re-education camps.
“We did exchange views on that matter,” Payne said at a press conference alongside Wang, but she did not elaborate on what she had told him behind closed doors.
It is rare for foreign officials to publicly chastise China over its human rights record during a visit to the country.