People are holding a Meshrep, a traditional Uygur community gathering, in Hami city of Xinjiang. Photo: IC

Human rights should not be used to serve political ends or as a tool to smear other countries and contain their development, Liu Yuyin, spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva, said in a speech on Monday refuting erroneous remarks made by the UK foreign secretary at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council related to China's Xinjiang.

The Human Rights Council has no place for lies and deception, Liu stressed, noting that, regrettably, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Finland and a number of other countries abused the high-level platform of the Council to spread false information about China, smear China and interfere in China's internal affairs.

China expresses its firm opposition to and total rejection of the accusations, Liu said.

In the speech, Liu reiterated that China's ethnic policy features equality, unity, ethnic regional autonomy and common prosperity. He noted that Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, which are largely inhabited by ethnic minorities, are good examples of the development of China's human rights cause.

The so-called "forced labor" and "forced sterilization" accusations made against Xinjiang are outright slander and "lies of the century" fabricated by Western politicians, Liu said, adding that China welcomes people from around the world to visit Xinjiang, take a look at its prosperity and the happy lives of the people there.

Liu also stressed that the Sino-UK Joint Declaration never gave any external force the right to interfere in Hong Kong affairs.

Hong Kong is a society under the rule of law and no one stands above the law, Liu said, adding that China firmly supports law enforcement agencies in Hong Kong SAR in strictly executing the law. 

Liu said that the UK adopts double standards and is indulged in intervening in other countries' affairs while turning a blind eye to human rights infringements in its own country. For instance, people's right to life and health were ignored amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 4 million people in the UK infected and over 120,000 killed by the disease.

China urges the UK and other countries to look into their own human rights problems and make a real effort for the sound development of the global human rights cause, instead of using human rights issues to serve their own political ends, Liu said. 

Global Times