BEIJING (AFP) – China on Thursday (March 28) hit back at criticism from the United States’ top diplomat who called its treatment of Muslims “shameful hypocrisy” after speaking with a former prisoner from a Chinese detention camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the comment after meeting with Mihrigul Tursun, a member of the Uighur ethnic group who has spoken publicly in the US about what she said was widespread torture in China’s prisons for the minority group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beijing claims the camps are “vocational training centres” that provide language classes and employment, steering locals away from extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Pompeo’s comments are “extremely absurd and grossly interfere in China’s internal affairs”, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a regular press briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Currently, the overall situation in Xinjiang society is stable … and all ethnic groups get along harmoniously,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We urge the US to respect the facts … and stop the malicious smearing and groundless accusations against the Chinese side,” Mr Geng added.ADVERTISING<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps in Xinjiang, according to a group of experts cited last year by the United Nations.Related Story<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former detainees say they were detained for simply following Islamic traditions, such as having a long beard or wearing a veil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“China must release all those arbitrarily detained and end its repression,” tweeted Mr Pompeo, who had also met with relatives of those detained in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After months denying the existence of the internment camps, Beijing last year launched a public relations campaign to defend its “training centres”, organising visits for diplomats and media from friendly countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, a delegation of three EU officials who visited Xinjiang in January<\/a> as part of a carefully organised visit said they had the impression that the people they had spoken to in a “training centre” were reciting a dictated speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, Mr Pompeo also criticised Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road project after Italy decided to join China’s “Silk Road” infrastructure initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He accused China of practising “debt-trap diplomacy” with its state-owned or state-controlled enterprises only looking after their own interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The US side’s statement is inconsistent with the facts,” dismissed Mr Geng. “No country sinks into a so-called debt trap because of their co-operation with China.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BEIJING (AFP) – China on Thursday (March 28) hit back at criticism from the United States’ top diplomat who called its treatment of Muslims “shameful hypocrisy” after speaking with a former prisoner from a Chinese detention camp. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the comment after meeting with Mihrigul Tursun, a member of the Uighur ethnic group who has… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[163],"class_list":["post-3374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-www-straitstimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3375,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3374\/revisions\/3375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}