JAKARTA - Dozens of countries continued to pressure China at the United Nations on Thursday over allegations of rights abuses against Uighur Muslims and other minorities in the Xinjiang region, prompting an angry response from China's envoy to the United Nations.
Confrontation over Xinjiang between China and most Western countries, including the United States, has become a 'routine' at the UN General Assembly in New York and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In a statement, which was read in part by French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Riviere to the General Assembly's rights committee, 43 countries voiced concern about the rise in "reports of widespread and systematic human rights violations", accusing China of detaining more than 1 million people in the camp.
They said allegations of abuse included reports documenting torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilization, sexual and gender-based violence, and the forced separation of children.
Beijing denies all allegations of abuse against Uighurs and describes the camps as vocational training facilities to combat religious extremism.
China's ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, hit back in a statement partially read to the rights committee on Thursday.
"For the US and some other countries: Your desperate attempts to cover up your appalling human rights record will not work," he criticized.
"No matter how many times it is repeated, a lie is still a lie. You are using human rights as a pretext for political maneuvering to provoke confrontation."
To note, UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet has been negotiating access to Xinjiang since September 2018.
He told the Human Rights Council in June he hoped to agree to the terms of this year's visit to examine reports of serious abuses against Uighur Muslims.
While at the Human Rights Council in June, more than 40 countries urged China to give Bachelet immediate access.
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