Ambassadors voice support for nation on issues related to Xinjiang

GENEVA－Fifty countries' ambassadors to the United Nations Office at Geneva have co-signed a letter to the president of the UN Human Rights Council and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to voice support for China's position on issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

On July 12, a number of ambassadors in the Swiss city sent the joint letter to show their support for China, and as of Friday evening, more ambassadors had joined, according to the Chinese Mission to the UN's Geneva office.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Chinese mission said that some other countries had also expressed support in separate letters or news releases.

In the joint letter, the ambassadors commended China for its economic and social progress, effective counterterrorism and deradicalization measures and strong human rights guarantees.

They appreciated the opportunities provided by China for diplomatic envoys, officials of international organizations and media professionals to visit Xinjiang, and pointed to the contrast between Xinjiang in the eyes of those who have visited it and the one portrayed by some foreign media outlets.

The ambassadors also urged a certain group of countries to stop using uncorroborated information to make unfounded accusations against China.

"I was surprised that some people call these vocational training and education centers concentration or internment camps," said Vadim Pisarevich, deputy permanent representative of Belarus to the UNOG.

"They're nothing of the kind. They look like ordinary educational facilities, and even I said that they are more than this because they provide life skills training to the students," Pisarevich said.