Beijing: China has agreed that the Head of the United Nations Human Rights can visit Xinjiang after the Beijing Olympics, said Morning Morning South Post, quoted an unknown source, but activists and Western diplomats expressed doubts after many jammed talks.
The rights groups accused China of Windercale’s violations against Uyghur and other minority groups in the far western region of Xinjiang, including mass detention, torture and forced labor.
The United States accused China genocide.
Beijing denies all accusations of abuse of Uyghurs and other Turkish Muslims and has described its policies as needed to combat religious extremism.
The newspaper said the agreement for a visit by Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights, after the match ended on February 20, given the condition that it must be “friendly” and not framed as an investigation.
Beijing has asked the Bachelet office not to publish a report about the situation in Xinjiang, the newspaper said on Thursday.
Bachelet’s office, who has pursued negotiations with China for a visit since September 2018, did not immediately respond to a comment request.
A Western diplomat doubts the SCMP report, said China and Bachelet have discussed a visit for years but have not agreed to reference provisions, which, on the side of the Bachelet, including free and unbroken access to the chosen people.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, said Bachely had been invited to visit Xinjiang for a long time for the purpose of exchange and cooperation, and added that China opposed the “political manipulation” based on visits.
With a five-week session the UN Human Rights Council will begin on February 28, activists and diplomats say diplomatic windows are closed for Bachelet to publish reports, it is expected to be based on research and office interviews itself with alleged victims and witnesses in and out of Xinjiang and China.
The US parliamentarians urged the UN human rights office to release his assessment before the Olympics.
Activists have voiced frustration for months of delay publishing reports.
In December, Bachelet spokesman told the UN briefing in Geneva that his office was completing the assessment of the situation.
As in 2008, the Olympics have put the spotlight on Chinese human rights records, which critics have been said to have deteriorated since then, leading Washington to call Beijing’s treatment for Muslims Uyghur genocide and encourage diplomatic boycott by the United States and other countries.
“No one, especially the world’s leading human rights diplomats, must be fooled by the efforts of the Chinese government to divert the attention of his crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkish communities,” Sophie Richardson, Director of the Chinese human rights based on New York, told Reuters in email on Friday.