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Diplomacy
ChinaDiplomacy

Chinese foreign minister hits out at Western critics on UAE coronavirus diplomacy stop

  • Wang Yi witnesses launch of Sinopharm vaccine joint venture that UAE counterpart says could make the emirates into a production hub
  • UAE will also set up a vaccination service for Chinese citizens throughout the Persian Gulf

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan launch the joint Sinopharm vaccines production line in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Liu Zhen

China’s foreign minister hit back at international criticism of his country’s human rights record on the weekend as he stopped in the United Arab Emirates for the launch of a coronavirus vaccine production line.

The UAE is the fourth stop in Wang Yi’s week-long Middle East trip and comes as Beijing is facing mounting criticism from the West over its treatment of members of ethnic minority groups in its western region of Xinjiang.

In talks with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Sunday, Wang said the human rights of a country should be judged only by its own people, not by the citizens of other nations.

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“The human rights views of some Western countries do not represent international human rights views,” he said.

“If certain Western countries insist on using human rights as a pretext to contain and suppress developing countries and attempt to deprive non-Western countries of their right to development, this will be the greatest injustice in the history of humanity.”

03:36

Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims

Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims

Wang, Sheikh Abdullah and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also took part in the launch of a line to bottle Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccines.

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