Chinese defend Hong Kong, Xinjiang record at UN hearing

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Chinese envoys have defended Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities during an unusual public confrontation at a U.N. meeting. During the meeting of the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the officials also rejected complaints that China’s ruling Communist Party hampered the global response to COVID-19. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government faces accusations that abuses multiplied as Beijing tried to crush a pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, carried out mass detentions of Muslim minorities and silenced labor and women’s rights. Xi’s government has rejected the accusations, but two days of hearings that ended Thursday in Geneva gave human rights activists an opportunity to air criticism in the presence of Chinese officials.