U.S., others object to U.N. counterterrorism chief visit to China's Xinjiang

By Michelle Nichols

 

FILE PHOTO: Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo

 

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States and other western countries have objected to a visit by the United Nations counterterrorism chief to China's remote Xinjiang, where U.N. experts say some one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centres.

 

Vladimir Voronkov, a veteran Russian diplomat who heads the U.N. Counterterrorism Office, is in China at the invitation of Beijing and is due to visit Xinjiang's capital Urumqi, according to an email sent by his office to countries that raised concerns.

 

Diplomats said that along with the United States several other countries, including Britain, also complained.

 

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan spoke with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday “to convey deep concerns” about Voronkov’s trip because “Beijing continues to paint its repressive campaign against Uighurs and other Muslims as legitimate counterterrorism efforts when it is not.”

 

“The Deputy Secretary expressed that such a visit is highly inappropriate in view of the unprecedented repression campaign underway in Xinjiang against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslims,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.

 

“The U.N.’s topmost counterterrorism official is putting at risk the U.N.’s reputation and credibility on counterterrorism and human rights by lending credence to these false claims,” the statement said.

 

China has been condemned internationally for setting up the detention complexes, which it describes as "education training centres" helping to stamp out extremism and give people new skills. Western states are worried Voronkov's visit will validate China's justification for the centres, diplomats said.

 

"China will, and is, actively saying that what they're doing in Xinjiang is good terrorism prevention," said a U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

"The visit by Voronkov validates their narrative that this is a counterterrorism issue, when we would see it more as a human rights issue," said the diplomat, adding that if Voronkov did not speak out after visiting Xinjiang then "silence could be seen as implicit acceptance, at worst U.N. complicity."

 

The email from Voronkov's office, seen by Reuters, said China planned the itinerary for Voronkov, whose office helps states implement a global counterterrorism strategy adopted by the U.N. General Assembly. The email said his office does "not expect any public statements" on his visit to Xinjiang.

 

He will be visiting Xinjiang before U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, who has repeatedly pushed China to grant the United Nations access to investigate reports of disappearances and arbitrary detentions, particularly of Muslims in Xinjiang.

 

"This mission is not connected in any manner to upcoming visits by other senior U.N. officials, including the High Commissioner of Human Rights. We would like to assure you that (Voronkov's) visit is not intended to undermine or overshadow the visit of Ms. Bachelet," the email said.

 

China's envoy in Geneva said on Thursday that he hoped Bachelet would visit China, including Xinjiang, and "we hope to define a time which is convenient to both sides." The last visit by a U.N. human rights chief to China was in 2005.

 

The email from Voronkov's office said he had already visited Russia, Britain, the United States and France which, along with China, make up the five permanent veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council.

 

Human Rights Watch U.N. director Louis Charbonneau said that instead of sending Voronkov to Xinjiang, Guterres should "be calling for the immediate closure of 'political education' camps" and pushing for unfettered access for Bachelet and other rights experts.

 

Guterres raised the plight of Muslims in China's Xinjiang region with the Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, during a visit to Beijing in April.

 

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-15

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4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

“The U.N.’s topmost counterterrorism official is putting at risk the U.N.’s reputation and credibility ...”

Says a representative of A45 ????????????

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Vladimir Voronkov, a veteran Russian diplomat

Has been throughout most of his career deeply entrenched in the Russian government.

Who better would know about inhumane treatment of civilians by an authoritarian government?

Frankly, concerning Trump's insistence that the US-Mexico border is under an invasion by Central & South American Latino migrants and his zero-tolerance for humane treatment, maybe Vlad should visit the U.S. southern border.

 

So now the executives of the UN are supposed to be directed  by the US  and it  lackeys?

The US  and "Britain" amongst  several undisclosed  countries object?

While I do have  some reservations  about the  current effective  functionality of the UN  this  is an example of  my reason.

 

"if Voronkov did not speak out after visiting Xinjiang then "silence could be seen as implicit acceptance, at worst U.N. complicity."

So what logic is there in the objection? He  went, he  has  seen. But has not yet  spoken!

Or is it that he  was  not instructed  previously to say after what the propagandist overlords  of democratic and humanitarian expect of a presumed servant?

3 hours ago, jayboy said:

Almost eveybody.

Yes. Most  do. But  not sympathetically.

Yet everybody wants a trade deal with China. Ignore the South China Sea island building and 9 dash line, ignore the commitments made to Hong Kong by China, ignore the Belt and Road Initiative debt trap, ignore the occupation of Tibet, ignore the pollution China pumps into the air and oceans with no environmental standards, ignore the weaponization of Chinese tourism. The internment of a million plus Uighurs in re-education camps is just one more in a long list of Chinese policies that China knows the world will basically ignore. Be good or the possibility of access to the Chinese domestic market will disappear.

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

 

So now the executives of the UN are supposed to be directed  by the US  and it  lackeys?
The US  and "Britain" amongst  several undisclosed  countries object?
While I do have  some reservations  about the  current effective  functionality of the UN  this  is an example of  my reason.
 

Members of the UN should not be allowed to comment or vote on UN policy?


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2 hours ago, Sealbash said:

Members of the UN should not be allowed to comment or vote on UN policy?


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Should members of the UN act unilaterally in defiance of the UN ?

Should executives of the UN be barred from ad hoc visitations if  not under the banner of the UN or citing official policy or capacity?