Chinese state media touted a visit by the United Nations human rights chief to the Xinjiang region, in which she echoed the Communist regime’s propaganda and dismissed allegations of genocide against the country’s Uyghur Muslim minority.
U.N. high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet closed out her six-day visit to China last week with a speech that praised Communist Party officials, failed to acknowledge evidence of state-orchestrated repression and torture against Uyghurs, and mimicked CCP framing of China’s detainment of Uyghurs as counterterrorist measures.
The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, celebrated Bachelet’s speech for dismissing “the rampant disinformation on the Xinjiang region” and being a “slap to the U.S. and some Western countries, their media, and anti-China forces.”
The Global Times‘s coverage of Bachelet’s speech mentioned her comments on supposed human rights violations in the United States, with the outlet suggesting America is deflecting from its own ethical failures by accusing China of genocide. The Global Times said this month’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children “exposed the severe racism and human rights violations” of the United States.
Bachelet is the former president of Chile, representing the Socialist Party.
Human-rights advocates denounced Bachelet’s visit and called on her to resign for legitimizing China’s policies toward Uyghurs.
The trip is “bringing the entire UN into disrepute,” said Azeem Ibrahim, head of the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy.
“Bachelet neglects the duties of her office, her mandate to the world to stand up for human rights, and the UN’s founding principles,” said the Campaign for Uyghurs.
