China to UN rights chief Bachelet: 'Respect our sovereignty'
China called on the UN's human rights chief to respect its sovereignty
after she highlighted "deeply disturbing" allegations of mass detentions
of Muslim Uighur minorities in Xinjiang.
On Monday, High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet
denounced China's ongoing crackdown on the Uighur community in her first
remarks as head of the UN rights watchdog in Geneva.
The two-time president of Chile also urged Beijing to allow monitors
into the restive far western region to investigate the situation there.
Bachelet should "scrupulously abide by the mission and principles of the
UN charter", China's foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on
Tuesday.
Geng added she should "respect China's sovereignty, fairly and
objectively", and "not listen to one-sided information" while carrying
out her duties.
Bachelet's appeal for access came as Human Rights Watch reported the
Turkic-speaking Uighurs face arbitrary detentions, restrictions on
religious practice, and "forced political indoctrination" in a mass
security clampdown.
A United Nations rights panel said last month it had received credible
reports that up to one million Uighurs may be held in extra-legal
detention in the northwestern province of China, and called for them to
be freed.
China rejected the latest UN report.
China said tough security measures in Xinjiang were necessary to combat
"extremism and terrorism" but added it did not target specific ethnic
groups or restrict religious freedoms.
Xinjiang is home to at least eight million Muslim Uighurs.
In a region that shares borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, minority Muslim groups face regulations
banning beards and veils, as well as the unauthorised distribution of
the Quran.
During the past two years, authorities have dramatically stepped up
security and surveillance in Xinjiang, likened by critics to near
martial law conditions with police checkpoints, re-education camps, and
mass DNA collection.
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