China denies attempts to supress UN report on Xinjiang rights abuses

Beijing [China], July 21 (ANI): China has strongly responded to reports that it is trying to suppress the UN report detailing the human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.
"China firmly opposes smears and attacks against China using disinformation. The just position of China has gained the strong support of the international community, especially the developing countries," said Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin in a press conference.
"The calculations of a small number of countries to use Xinjiang to engage in political manipulation, tarnish China's reputation and contain and suppress China will not succeed," the spokesperson added.
This strong reaction comes after UK-based media reported that China sent a letter urging UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to bury a report on human rights violations in Xinjiang.
China has been urging to bury the report among diplomatic missions in Geneva since late June, asking countries to sign it to show their support.
Bachelet has been facing severe criticism for being too soft on China during a May visit in what could have been a golden chance to investigate the human rights situation in areas like Xinjiang and Tibet and to hold Beijing accountable for its abuses against Uyghurs and Tibetans, but it seems that the first visit of the rights body chief turned out to be a "wasted historic opportunity".
The Global Times reported that the statement by the UN rights chief at the end of her trip stressed that her trip was not an "investigation" and that this was "an opportunity to hold direct discussions - with China's most senior leaders" on areas including "human rights" "was a slap to the Western countries".
Another Chinese media CGTN stated that the visit provided "a chance to clarify the situation and dispel a lot of misinformation and other things that have been put out".
"The high commissioner has disgraced herself and her office by refusing to investigate China's genocide and adopting, repeating the Chinese regime's narrative, further cementing their propaganda in the UN," Rushan Abbas, the organization's executive director, told RFA.
"Her comments seem custom-made for Beijing's propaganda machine, and she neglects the duties of her office and the founding principle of the UN," she said. Abbas called on Bachelet to step down from her post.
Following Bachelet's highly disappointing visit, the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) strongly urged her office to release her independent assessment of the situation in East Turkistan, as a show of willingness to hold the Chinese government accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide being committed.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has expressed disappointment with the Bachelet's visit to China, saying this trip has given a "political victory" to the Communist regime.
According to the Tibetan group, the UN rights chief adopted the Chinese Communist Party's framing of policies, domestically and internationally.
Dozens of rights groups say the Chinese government has committed widespread abuses and systematic policies of mass detention, torture, cultural persecution, and other offences against Uyghurs and members of other Turkic groups in Xinjiang that amount to crimes against humanity. (ANI)