China Welcomes Upcoming UN Rights Chief's Visit to Xinjiang Region

BEIJING (Sputnik) - China welcomes the upcoming visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday.

"China welcomes the visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [Michelle] Bachelet to China and Xinjiang. We have already sent an invitation earlier and the two sides are constantly in contact on this issue," Zhao said at a briefing.

Earlier in the day, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unnamed sources, that China had agreed to host a visit to Xinjiang by Bachelet in the first half of the year after the Winter Olympic Games.

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the largest province in China with a population of 25 million people from various ethnic groups, but about 43% of them are Uyghurs, most of whom are Muslims. The region, bordering seven countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been considered an epicenter of terrorism and extremism for many years.

At the end of August 2018, experts from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reported that up to 1 million ethnic Uyghurs could be in "re-education camps" in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Beijing has denied the existence of "re-education camps" on numerous occasions, insisting that the country is fully complying with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.