China Pushes Back Over Scrutiny of Uyghur Rights at UN Event

NEW YORK - China is urging U.N. member states not to attend a Wednesday meeting on the human rights of ethnic Uyghur Muslims that several Western countries and rights groups are hosting, calling it politically motivated and denying there is any problem in Xinjiang.

“The current situation in Xinjiang is at its best in history with stability, rapid economic development and harmonious co-existence among people of all ethnic groups,” China’s U.N. mission said in a statement, speaking about the autonomous region in northwestern China where Uyghurs and several other ethnically Turkic Muslim minority groups live. “The U.S. and other co-sponsors are obsessed with fabricating lies and plotting to use Xinjiang-related issues to contain China and create [a] mess in China.” The Chinese mission also called for the virtual event at the United Nations to be canceled, saying it interferes with China’s internal affairs. For years, Beijing has come under strong international criticism from the West and many Muslims for its treatment of Uyghurs, which includes widespread government surveillance and abuses including forced birth control. Human rights groups say China has sent more than a million Uyghurs to detention camps. China says the compounds are "vocational education centers" intended to stop the spread of religious extremism and terrorist attacks.