Xinjiang chief postpones European tour amid pushback over human rights

Erkin Tuniyaz was expected in Brussels next week to meet the EU’s China and human rights specialists
The Xinjiang Communist Party deputy secretary is accused of facilitating widespread oppression in the region

China-EU relations

Finbarr Berminghamin Brussels

Published: 8:57pm, 14 Feb 2023

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A controversial visit to European capitals by the head of the western Chinese region of Xinjiang has been postponed, the host governments have confirmed.

Erkin Tuniyaz was expected in London this week and Brussels next week, where he was set to meet the European Union’s China and human rights specialists.

A trip to Paris was also scheduled. News of all three visits was met with vigorous protests by lawmakers and human rights campaigners.

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Tuniyaz, the Communist Party deputy secretary in Xinjiang and chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, has been accused of facilitating a widespread campaign of oppression against Uygurs and other ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang.

However, an EU spokeswoman said “we were informed by the Chinese mission that the visit has been postponed”.

The EU had viewed the visit “as an opportunity to convey directly the EU’s long-standing concerns on the human rights situation in Xinjiang”.

The Chinese mission to the EU told the Post that “due to scheduling reasons”, a briefing Tuniyaz was set to hold with media and scholars in Brussels was “postponed”.

A spokesperson for the British foreign office said they understood the governor “has cancelled his visit to the UK” and that the UK government would “continue to use all opportunities to take action against China’s unacceptable human rights abuses in Xinjiang”.

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A UK government source added that they “did not invite the governor to visit, and under no circumstances would he have been offered a ministerial meeting”.

The potential visit to London had sparked furious protests from lawmakers and campaigners, some of whom demanded that British police detain Tuniyaz for “crimes against humanity”.

On Monday, a request was filed by Rodney Dixon KC and his legal team on behalf of the East Turkestan Government in Exile, with the Metropolitan Police SO15 Counter-terrorism unit, to arrest Tuniyaz.

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Politico reported that invitees to a briefing in Paris were told it was cancelled due to “an important domestic agenda”.

Tuniyaz was sanctioned by the US government for his role in alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang in 2021. However, he has not been sanctioned by London or Brussels.

The Chinese government has been accused of conducting a widespread campaign of persecution against Uygurs and other ethnic Muslim groups in the northwest territory.

In a long-awaited report last year, the United Nations said Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang may have constituted “crimes against humanity”.

Beijing countered that the allegations were “based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces and out of presumption of guilt”.

The Tuniyaz saga has threatened to overshadow a flurry of Sino-European diplomatic activity this week, with Beijing desperate to repair relations that have suffered since Russia launched a war against Ukraine a year ago.

Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi will visit Russia and attend a major international security conference in Germany in the countdown to the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He will also visit France, Italy and Hungary.

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Wang will address the Munich Security Conference, where he will explain Beijing’s position on pressing international issues, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Wang will face a challenge in winning European hearts and minds. In the Munich summit’s annual report, China and Russia are accused of being “at the forefront of broader authoritarian pushback against international human rights and the mechanisms built to protect them”.

“The vision that Beijing is pursuing, Western observers worry, is nothing less than to create a world safe for autocracy. Among others, China seeks to ensure that collective rights, as defined and upheld by the state, take precedence over individual civil and political liberties,” it said.

China’s special envoy for Europe, Wu Hongbo, will meet EU officials in Brussels this week. A delegation from Beijing will also be in the Belgian capital on Friday for the first in-person EU-China dialogue on human rights since 2019.

Additional reporting by Chad Bray in London