Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
GENEVA (AP) — More than three dozen countries have defended China's "remarkable achievements" in human rights, challenging Western countries that have raised concerns about Beijing's treatment of Uighur Muslims.
Thirty-seven countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia and others, mostly from southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East, expressed their opposition to "politicizing human rights" in a letter Friday to the Human Rights Council office.
It was a show of the growing diplomatic clout that China can muster. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, echoed China's repeated defense of its "vocation education and training centers" for Uighurs, which critics call detention centers.
It came two days after 22 Western countries, in a similar letter, urged China to end mass arbitrary detentions and other violations against Muslims in China's Western Xinjiang region.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
