Certain countries turn blind eye to facts, spread lies about China: Chinese diplomat

Photo taken on March 12, 2020 shows the United Nations Human Rights Council conducting Universal Periodic Review during its 43rd session in Geneva, Switzerland.(Xinhua/Nie Xiaoyang)

GENEVA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turning a blind eye to facts, certain countries fabricated and spread lies about Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong in vicious vilification of China, a Chinese diplomat said here Wednesday.

"What they have done has only fully exposed the fact that, for them, human rights are nothing but a tool for political manipulation," Chen Xu, head of the Chinese Mission to UN at Geneva, said at the high-level Segment of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

During the session, Britain, the European Union, Germany, the United States, Canada and a few others made groundless accusations against China, which China strongly opposes and rejects, he said.

If these countries truly intend to promote and protect human rights, they should not have started wars around the world that caused countless civilian casualties and displacement, and broken families, Chen noted.

They should not have shielded soldiers who committed war crimes overseas and incessant killings of innocent civilians, nor should they have interfered in the internal affairs of other countries and undermined the peaceful life of their people, the Chinese diplomat stressed.

If they truly intend to promote and protect human rights, they should provide adequate technical and financial assistance to developing countries to help them achieve sustainable development, narrow the North-South divide, and eradicate poverty and hunger on a global scale, he said.

If they truly intend to promote and protect human rights, they should put life first and take effective measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than pass the buck and shift the blame, he said.

They should also address the deep-rooted human rights problems, such as racial discrimination, wealth disparity, social injustice and police violence, protect the rights of refugees and migrants, and close immigration detention centers where migrants are subjected to inhumane treatment.

"China urges these countries to make real efforts to solve their own human rights problems, take part in international human rights dialogue and cooperation in a fair, objective and constructive manner, and stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs only to serve their own political agenda under the pretext of human rights," Chen said.