China tells France it will lose respect if it ‘submits’ to US after Paris plays lead role in UN statement on Xinjiang

Beijing’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun made the comments after Paris read out a statement citing ‘credible’ reports up to a million Uygurs had been detained in camps

French relations with the US have been strained by the Aukus pact, but Zhang said the country was acting as one of Washington’s ‘henchmen’

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France played a leading role in the UN statement that cited credible reports that up to a million Uygurs had been detained in Xinjiang. Photo: AP

Published: 5:00pm, 22 Oct 2021Updated: 10:19pm, 22 Oct 2021

A senior Chinese diplomat has warned France not to “submit to the United States”, or it will risk losing dignity and respect.

Zhang Jun, the ambassador to the United Nations, made the comments in response to a joint statement, signed by 43 mainly Western countries and read out by France at a UN meeting, that criticised China’s policies in Xinjiang, where it is accused of widespread human rights abuses.

“To France and other followers of the US: what you are doing is submitting your independence and autonomy, and serving as the henchmen of the US, as if you can gain superiority by acting at the beck and call of the superpower. But the truth is, you are giving up your own dignity, and will win no respect from others,” Zhang said.

Zhang then hit back at France’s human rights record, saying it had killed civilians in the 2014 Operation Barkhane, an operation against Islamist insurgents in Africa’s Sahel region.

He also said France evicted between 10,000 and 15,000 Romani people annually, added that Muslims living in the country face discrimination and observed that the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture had expressed concerns about prison overcrowding and conditions in police detention facilities.

The statement criticising China’s policies in Xinjiang said: “We call on China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office.

“We are particularly concerned about the situation in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region,” the statement said, citing “credible” reports that “indicate the existence of a large network of ‘political reeducation’ camps where over a million people have been arbitrarily detained”.

China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun described the signatories as henchmen of the US. Photo: Xinhua

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