(TibetanReview.net, Feb23’21) – In what can only be seen as arrogance of audacity, China has on Feb 22 called its treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet a “shining example” of its human rights progress. Global criticism of China’s human right record is most intense in these two occupied territories.
“Places inhabited by ethnic minorities, such as Xinjiang and Tibet, have stood out as shining examples of China’s human rights progress,” the AFP Feb 22 quoted China’s foreign minister Wang Yi as saying at a forum on US-China relations in Beijing.
The report noted that Wang made his speech as politicians in countries including the United States condemned China’s incarceration of minorities in Xinjiang and hours before he was scheduled to address the UN’s annual Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
Wang was to address the UN body via videolink later on the same day.
Wang has said China was “always committed” to protecting human rights and cited the growth of per capita GDP and life expectancy in the regions as “evidence” that rights were being safeguarded.
“We believe that the rights to subsistence and development are basic human rights of paramount importance,” Wang was quoted as saying.
