Germany and Western allies call for acceptance of Uygurs as refugees as China is also slammed over Hong Kong law
- In UN speech, German ambassador also denounces Beijing for restricting rights in Hong Kong under national security law
- Beijing and its UN allies reject what they called interference in ‘China’s internal affairs’
In a United Nations speech on Tuesday supported by 38 other countries, Germany criticised China’s human rights record and called on the world to accept persecuted Uygur Muslims as refugees.
The group of mostly Western countries, represented by Berlin’s ambassador to the United Nations, Christoph Heusgen, also expressed “deep concerns” over the national security law Beijing has imposed in Hong Kong, which allows people to be sent to mainland China for trials.
Beijing and its UN allies fired back, rejecting what they deemed interference in “China’s internal affairs”.
A million Uygurs are in Chinese detention in the far western region of Xinjiang, according to UN findings. President Xi Jinping, however, has defended the “anti-terror” practice of “vocational training” as “totally correct”.
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Germany presses China on Hong Kong security law, seeks access to Uygurs in Xinjiang
“We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the recent developments in Hong Kong,” Heusgen said in a UN general debate.