Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he hopes the visit of UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to China will strengthen cooperation with the UN in human rights based on mutual respect and equality, and clear up some misinformation about China in the field.

In meeting with Bachelet in Guangzhou on Monday, Wang said it is the first time in 17 years that China has hosted a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is of landmark significance for both.

Wang noted that some countries and anti-China forces are spreading false information about China and making groundless attacks and discrediting China, their aim is to contain and suppress China by politicizing and weaponizing the human rights issue. But facts will speak for themselves; rumors and falsehoods will fail, Wang told Bachelet.

Wang said he hopes Bachelet's visit to China will make her better understand China's development ideas, routes and achievements, and the progress China has made on human rights.

Bachelet will embark on her planned trip to the country's northwestern Xinjiang region.

Wang introduced China's development journey and the governance beliefs of the Communist Party of China based on the 5,000 years of the country's civilized tradition, highlighting the CPC always puts the people at the center and places people's yearning for a better life as its goal.

China has always given top priority to ensuring that legitimate rights and security of Chinese citizens including ethnic minorities are protected, Wang said.

Several data are highlighted.

China feeds one-fifth of the world's population on less than 9 percent of the world's land. It's also built the world's largest social insurance healthcare network.

China resolved the issue of absolute poverty, achieved the poverty reduction target set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule, and brought more than 1.4 billion Chinese people into a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

China is the only major country in the world that has continuously formulated and implemented the four phases of national human rights action plans; rights of all ethnic groups to manage state affairs on an equal footing are legally guaranteed, and development of regions where ethnic groups are living are supported by various methods.

Wang further said he takes the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as an opportunity, and China is willing to have discussions with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) about future constructive cooperation based on mutual respect and equality.

The development of international human rights cause should be based on mutual respect, fairness and justice, seek truth from facts, stay open and inclusive, rather than politicizing the issue, acting with double standards, derailing with the country's national conditions and stage of development, or playing with confrontation between camps, Wang noted.

He continued that those major countries, in particular, should take the lead in practicing multilateralism, abiding by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respecting international law and safeguarding international fairness and justice. Multilateral human rights institution should become a stage for cooperation and dialogue, rather than a new battlefield for division and confrontation.

In their talk, Bachelet congratulated the achievements that China has made in economic development and human rights protection, and spoke highly of China's positive role in supporting multilateralism, development fundraising and sustainable development.

Bachelet said the OHCHR attaches great importance to China's role in human rights and hopes the visit could enhance mutual understanding and trust so as to respond to global challenges and boost international human rights development together.

The news of Bachelet's visit to China has attracted wide attention, as anti-China forces in the US and some Western countries ramped up efforts to hype the groundless "genocide" accusations about China's Xinjiang region, which have been refuted multiple times by China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at Tuesday's press conference slammed recent comments by spokesperson of the US Department of State and the British Ambassador to China, pointing out that their real intention of staging political farce in relation to Bachelet's visit is never to care about truth but hype the so-called Xinjiang-related issues so that they can smear China.

Wang Wenbin noted that ahead of Bachelet's visit, some countries including the US and the UK were pressuring the UN High Commissioner to conduct "investigation" in Xinjiang based on presumption of guilt, and when Bachelet reached China, these countries intended to create all kinds of obstacles to point fingers at Bachelet's visit.

Do they care about human rights or just regard human rights as an issue that can be politicized, weaponized and instrumentalized? What they are really worried about is when UN High Commissioner for Human Rights sees the real situation in Xinjiang, their fabricated lies and rumors will be destroyed and their attempt to contain China with Xinjiang-related issues will go bankrupt, Wang Wenbin noted.

The "lie of the century" invented by those forces with ulterior motives about Xinjiang is a true reflection of the human rights abuses committed by the US and the UK. It's time for them to face up to and correct their own systemic chronic human rights problems, Wang Wenbin said, calling on the UN to make an objective assessment of the human rights problems in the US and the UK and submit corresponding reports.

Global Times