UN team in China to prepare for human rights chief’s May trip

ISTANBUL

An advance team has reached China ahead of UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s upcoming trip, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"The team is here to prepare for the visit scheduled for May," ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a news briefing.

Wang emphasized that the purpose of the visit is “to promote exchanges and cooperation.”

“We oppose the use of this event for political manipulation,” he was quoted as saying by state-run daily Global Times.

Bachelet announced plans for the landmark visit to China last month, saying the government has agreed to allow her delegation to visit the Xinjiang region, home to ethnic Uyghur Muslims allegedly facing human rights violations.

According to UN data, at least 1 million Uyghurs are kept against their will in places Beijing calls “vocational training centers” and the international community defines as “re-education camps.”

China has resisted repeated calls from the UN and other international organizations to open the camps for inspection, only allowing a small number of foreign diplomats and journalists to visit a few designated centers.

Several countries have accused China of ethnic cleansing of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, allegations dismissed by Beijing as “lies and (a) political virus.”