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A Chinese national flag outside the Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, China, on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. China has told nations criticizing its policies in Xinjiang to stop interfering in domestic affairs. Source: Bloomberg

China accuses EU of making ‘unacceptable’ demands over Xinjiang visit

  • Beijing has defended its treatment of Uygurs in the region and has said critics are welcome to visit, but critics say these tours are stage-managed
  • China also accused the EU of ‘hypocrisy’ after Brussels said it had taken a strong stance in support of human rights in Xinjiang
China has accused European diplomats of imposing “unacceptable” preconditions on a visit to Xinjiang.

In a statement published on Friday, the Chinese mission to the European Union also accused the bloc’s diplomatic arm of “hypocrisy” after it responded to a petition about alleged human rights abuses in the region with a statement that it would tackle concerns about forced labour.

The statement said: “China has sent an invitation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Xinjiang and the two sides have been in constant communication.
“China has also invited diplomats from the EU and its member states posted in China many times to visit Xinjiang. However, the trip has not been carried out due to preconditions set by the EU side, which are unacceptable to any sovereign state.”
China has been accused of detaining a million mainly Uygur Muslims in “re-education” centres, where they are subject to indoctrination, torture and forced labour.

US ban on Xinjiang solar products heaps pressure on supply chains

The US has described Beijing’s policies as “genocide” and a number of parliaments around the world have also passed motions to that effect.

China has long denied the claims and defended its policies as designed to fight extremism, manage ethnic tensions and reduce poverty in the resource-rich region.

It also says critics are welcome to visit the region and has arranged tours for diplomats and foreign media. According to Beijing more than 1,200 diplomats, from countries —including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt and Russia — have visited the region since 2019.

But critics have said the tours are stage-managed and have called for the Chinese authorities to allow an independent investigation.

02:46

UK parliament declares Uygurs suffering ‘genocide’ in China’s Xinjiang

UK parliament declares Uygurs suffering ‘genocide’ in China’s Xinjiang

The Chinese mission’s statement came only hours after the European External Action Service, the EU’s foreign and security policy agency, said the bloc has taken “a firm stance” on human rights in Xinjiang and would introduce new due diligence rules to ensure European companies identify and address forced labour risks in their supply chains.

The comments were included in a written response to a February petition urging the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to investigate the case of Ilham Tohti, an outspoken Uygur economic professor who was jailed for separatism in 2014, and the treatment of other Uygur activists.

In February, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbing accused the EU of “attempting to interfere with China’s judicial sovereignty” after asking to meet some of those imprisoned under the crackdown in Xinjiang.

Chinese study says Xinjiang forced labour claims can’t be true

On Friday, he denied the claims of forced labour in Xinjiang, which he said were “lies concocted by a tiny minority of anti-Chinese activists in a very few countries such as the US”.

Relations between China and the EU came under increasing strain in May after Brussels imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights violations against Uygurs, the first sanctions the bloc had passed since the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989.

Beijing was furious and hit back by slapping sanctions on several European researchers, think tanks, politicians and a European parliamentary human rights committee, prompting the European Parliament to freeze the ratification of an investment agreement between the two sides.

01:08

Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer

Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer

Sources have said that political parties in the European Parliament are currently working up draft texts for a resolution on Hong Kong in response to the city’s crackdown on the Apple Daily newspaper, which was forced to shut down last week, while several of its editors were arrested under the city’s national security law.

Additional reporting by Jun Mai

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Europe slammed over terms for xinjiang trip
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