by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - China’s President Xi Jinping told the UN this week that his country doesn’t need ‘preachers’ to ‘boss’ it around on the issue of human rights, Fox Metro News (FMN) reports. Xi made his remark during a video call with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, despite facing accusations of gross human rights violations against the Uyghur and other Muslim minorities, and of systematically suppressing Christianity nationwide.
The call between Xi and Bachelet took place on Wednesday, following the latter’s arrival in China on Monday for a six-day tour, FMN reports. Bachelet is The first UNHCR chief to visit China 2005, Bachelet is expected to visit the region of Xinjiang, the region where China is accused of carrying out mass internment, forced labor, forced assimilation, and sterilization of the Uyghur.
“On the issue of human rights, no country is perfect, there is no need for ‘preachers’ to boss around other countries, still less should they politicize the issue, practice double standards or use it as an excuse to interfere in other countries internal affairs,” Xi was quoted as telling Bachelet by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Nevertheless, there is widespread concern that the Chinese government will not grant Bachelet freedom to speak with locals unsupervised.“We have no expectation that (China) will grant the necessary access required to conduct a complete, unmanipulated assessment of the human rights environment in Xinjiang,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday.
In addition to the mistreatment of Muslim minorities, China ranks 17th on the US Open Doors Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted. The ruling Chinese communist party considers religious minorities a threat to its power and works to oppress and suppress them.