China is to invite Beijing-based European diplomats to visit Xinjiang, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, furthering its outreach to fend off criticism about a deradicalization program.
The visit would be the first by a large group of Western diplomats to the region as China faces growing opprobrium from Western capitals and rights groups for setting up facilities that UN experts describe as detention centers holding more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims.
Several diplomatic sources said that the invitation to visit by the end of this month had been issued informally, specifically to ambassadors, with one source describing it as a “sounding out” of interest, and the government had not explicitly said who they would meet or where they would go.
It is also not clear if the Europeans would accept the invitation, or how many of their diplomats or ambassadors would go.
Last year, more than a dozen ambassadors from Western countries wrote to the government to seek a meeting with Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo (陳全國) to discuss their concerns about the rights situation.
Diplomats say that the government never responded to that letter, aside from publicly denouncing it as a breach of diplomatic norms.
It was not clear if a meeting with Chen would be on the agenda.
“In order to increase the European side’s understanding of Xinjiang’s achievements at economic and social development, and promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation, China plans in the near term to invite European envoys based in China to visit Xinjiang,” the ministry said in a statement.
The date and other details were still being worked out, it added.
“Hearing something for 100 times is not as good as seeing it for yourself,” the statement said.
Beijing has been ramping up its efforts in defense of its measures in Xinjiang, which it says are aimed at stemming the threat of Islamic militancy. It calls the camps vocational training centers.
China “believes that through this trip, European envoys based in China will be able to personally experience the real situation of Xinjiang’s calm, order and peace, and the happy lives of all its people,” the ministry said.
Last week, the US Department of State said that China’s treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang marked the worst human rights abuses “since the 1930s.”
Some diplomats briefed on the situation said there was concern the European diplomats could be used for propaganda purposes, pointing to photographs and stories in state media about visits by other foreign envoys to Xinjiang.
“There’s no point in going if we’re just going to be portrayed as supporting the camps,” one diplomat said.
EU foreign ministers on Monday raised the Uighur issue with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) at a lunch in Brussels, sources said.
While Wang was keen to focus on a list of issues of cooperation and agreement, EU ministers underlined the issue of human rights and the Uighurs, asking for explanations about why the people were being held and on reports of crackdowns on Muslims, sources said.
One EU diplomat said that Wang’s reply was “not satisfactory.”
China is a “big country,” so it could not be avoided that some individuals complain about treatment, and measures were not against Uighurs, but against extremists, the diplomat quoted Wang as saying.
“He was puzzled about why we are worried about it,” they said.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wang’s Xinjiang discussions in Brussels.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) is to visit Brussels next month for a China-EU summit.
There have been two visits by groups including European diplomats to Xinjiang this year. One was a small group of EU diplomats, and the other by a group of diplomats from several countries, including EU members Hungary and Greece.
There have also been at least two other trips to Xinjiang for foreign diplomats.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS