China to allow Turkish delegation to come to Xinjiang 2 months after UN human rights chief’s visit

In a meeting with his counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Beijing will communicate closely with Ankara over the visit

Earlier this year UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet visited the region, where Beijing is accused of the mass detention of Uygurs and other Muslim minorities

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A security checkpoint in Hotan, Xinjiang. Beijing is accused of extensive human rights abuses against the region’s Muslim population. Photo: AP

Published: 5:01pm, 5 Aug 2022

China has said it will welcome a Turkish delegation to Xinjiang, two months after the United Nations human rights chief visited the region to investigate allegations of widespread abuses.

On the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday that “China has always taken an attitude of being open and transparent on issues related to Xinjiang”.

Wang pledged to communicate closely over the issue and added that, as emerging economies, the two countries had closely intertwined interests and similar positions, and should promote cooperation, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Cavusoglu said Ankara firmly adhered to the one-China policy not only on the Taiwan question but also on issues concerning Xinjiang, according to the Chinese statement.

He added that the Turkish side was glad UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had visited Xinjiang and hoped to stay in contact with Beijing over the planned tour.

The two sides did not provide further details of the visit.

Bachelet’s trip was the first to China by a UN human rights high commissioner since 2005. Beijing said it “achieved positive and practical results”, but the United States voiced “deep concern” over China’s alleged “efforts to restrict and manipulate” the visit.