United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told leaders in China that he expected them to allow UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to pay a ‘credible visit’ to the country, including the Xinjiang region, his spokesperson said on Saturday. 

According to a UN readout of the meetings, the UN chief met President Xi Jinping and foreign minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics currently underway in Beijing, reported Reuters. 

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Guterres “expressed his expectation that the contacts between the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Chinese authorities will allow for a credible visit of the High Commissioner to China, including Xinjiang,” the readout said. 

So far, Beijing has denied Bachelet access to Xinjiang and an independent visit to the region.

Importantly, the UN human rights chief had long wished to visit Xinjiang to probe allegations of abuse against Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in the region’s internment camps — termed as ‘genocide’ by several countries in the West, and leading to a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics by some. 

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Beijing has denied the accusations and called these camps training and ‘re-education’ facilities to fight religious extremism. 

The readout of the meetings did not mention these human rights abuses. 

China has called for countries to not ‘politicise’ the Olympics by boycotting the games. But in what can be construed as a crucial statement, it chose an Uyghur athlete Dinigeer Yilamujiang as one of the final torch-bearers, reported The Guardian. The UN Chief had also traveled to Beijing to attend the ceremony. 

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“The Secretary-General recognized the important efforts China is making to address climate change but reiterated the appeal for additional efforts to accelerate the transition to the green economy to bridge the emissions gap,” the UN statement read.