BEIJING – China on Thursday hit back at criticism from the United States’top diplomat who called its treatment of Muslims “shameful hypocrisy” afterspeaking with a former prisoner from a Chinese detention camp.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the comment after meeting withMihrigul Tursun, a member of the Uighur ethnic group who has spokenpublicly in the US about what she said was widespread torture in China’sprisons for the minority group.
Beijing claims the camps are vocational training centres that providelanguage classes and employment, steering locals away from extremism.
Pompeo’s comments are “extremely absurd and grossly interfere in China’sinternal affairs”, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at aregular press briefing.
“Currently, the overall situation in Xinjiang society is stable … and allethnic groups get along harmoniously,” he said.
“We urge the US to respect the facts … and stop the malicious smearingand groundless accusations against the Chinese side,” Geng added.
As many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are beingheld in internment camps in Xinjiang, according to a group of experts citedlast year by the United Nations.
Former detainees say they were detained for simply following Islamictraditions, such as having a long beard or wearing a veil.
“China must release all those arbitrarily detained and end its repression,”tweeted Pompeo, who had also met with relatives of those detained inXinjiang.
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After months denying the existence of the internment camps, Beijing lastyear launched a public relations campaign to defend its “training centres”,organising visits for diplomats and media from friendly countries.
However, a delegation of three EU officials who visited Xinjiang in Januaryas part of a carefully organised visit said they had the impression thatthe people they had spoken to in a “training centre” were reciting adictated speech.
On Wednesday, Pompeo also criticised Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt andRoad project after Italy decided to join China’s “Silk Road” infrastructureinitiative.
He accused China of practising “debt-trap diplomacy” with its state-ownedor state-controlled enterprises only looking after their own interests.
“The US side’s statement is inconsistent with the facts,” dismissed Geng.
“No country sinks into a so-called debt trap because of their co-operationwith China.” – APP/AFP
