China tells UN human rights council Xinjiang training camps for Muslims will ‘gradually disappear’
- US State Department says it may use sanctions against Chinese officials it believes to be involved in violations, naming Politburo’s Chen Quanguo as one such individual
Chinese vice foreign minister Le Yucheng on Friday defended what Beijing called its vocational training centres for Muslims in northwestern Xinjiang and rejected outside interference in domestic affairs.
China has faced growing international censure over the centres that human rights groups described as internment camps. Beijing said the measures were needed to stem the threat of Islamist militancy and separatism.
Le, speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council at the end of a review of its record held every five years, said: “As the counterterrorism situation improves, the training programme will be gradually downsized, leading to its completion.
“Without our decisive measures, violent terrorist attacks would have escalated in Xinjiang and spread to other parts of China and the world,” Le told the forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Xinjiang is a vast region bordering central Asia that is home to millions of ethnic minority Muslims.