U.S. slams China, U.N. rights chief, ahead of Xinjiang visit

21/5/2022 6:11

        The United States is "deeply concerned" that China will restrict access on a visit by U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, the State Department said
        on Friday, while also criticizing Bachelet for "silence" in the face of what it said were atrocities in China's western Xinjiang region.
        
        China's foreign ministry announced that Bachelet will visit the country from May 23 to 28, in what will be the first U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights trip there since 2005. Her schedule includes a trip to Xinjiang, where activists say some 1 million Uyghurs Muslims have been held in mass detention.
        
        The United States accuses Beijing of committing genocide there, and Western rights groups fear the visit will be seen as an endorsement of China's rights record.
        
        "We're deeply concerned about the upcoming visit," State Department spokesman Ned Price told a press briefing, adding that the United States had "no expectation that the PRC (People's Republic of China) will grant the necessary access required to conduct a complete, unmanipulated assessment of the
        human rights environment in Xinjiang."