UNCHR boss should visit Xinjiang to stop U.S. fishing expedition » Capital News

Amid the United States spirited misinformation campaign on the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday yet again extended his welcome to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to visit the area.

This is the second such invitation to Michelle in recent weeks after Beijing made a similar request prior to the launch of the just concluded Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics in early February. By now this should not be a matter of debate. The global rights chief should have taken the offer with open arms, at least for the sake of the truth.

China has long expressed the welcoming gesture to Michelle, which shows that there is nothing to hide. Indeed, previous visits by journalists and diplomats have not disclosed an iota of the baseless human rights abuse bandied by the U.S. and its allies. Xinjiang is a vast area and allegations that such trips have been tightly controlled is a lame excuse to sustain the malicious allegations.

But Beijing has put a caveat on the invitation, noting that the UN team should make the visit with an open mind and not with a preconceived narrative. This refers to stereotypes that the West condescendingly holds against other societies, which are usually far removed from the reality lived by these people. There is a difference between framing an issue as an investigation on one hand and a fact finding mission on the other. The latter seeks wrongs and weaknesses while the latter searches for valuable facts and information.

If someone invites you to their house, there are some basic rules of etiquette that you must adhere to. Accordingly, you may not demand to get into the bedroom and use naturally dirty linen as evidence of one’s uncleanliness. That is akin to blaming the victim and one’s humanness.

It is imperative that in the run up to the visit, Michelle and her team undertake thorough background research on the history of Xinjiang and the socio-economic and cultural nuances of the Uyghurs, and the Chinese people as a whole. For instance, claims of forced labor in a community that values hard work is stretching it too far. In any case, the U.S. should know better with its ‘rat race’ that ‘forces’ majority of Americans to work inhumanely long hours to eke out a living.

It is not the first time China is making this offer to the UN rights boss. Which begs the question why, amid all the misinformation, she appears hesitant to put the record straight. Even for its own credibility, this is an opportunity that the UN should not lose. But she must not allow the mandate of the UN Commission on Human Rights to be hijacked by those with a chip on their shoulder.

A visit by the UN would be very significant. As the premier international body that arbitrates on conflicts that have major global impact, it is well placed to juxtapose what is happening in Xinjiang against the massive U.S.-led misinformation campaign. Some of the UNCHR themes that should form the framework of a Xinjiang visit include the right to self-determination, racism, the right to development and, economic, social and cultural rights.

To get in the right frame of mind, Michelle’s team should first be cognizant of the fact that during the re-education or de-radicalization campaign in the last five years, Xinjiang has recorded massive gains in the region’s economic growth and social cohesion. This has led to the eradication of terrorist activity, achieving one of the major outcomes of the program.

We all know how similar U.S. narratives to Xinjiang have ended up. An example is the diabolical claims that the late Iraq president Saddam Hussein had concealed weapons of mass destruction, which acted as a prelude to the superpower attacking the country and the subsequent vengeful killing of the president of the oil rich country. The devastating war between Iraq and U.S. coalition forces lasted from 2003 to 2011.

It is instructive to note that the U.S. had nothing on Iraq after investigations showing revealed the allegations as a hoax. Both the UN and Iraq Government had destroyed Iraq’s chemical weapons industry more than a decade earlier, including its nuclear program, after the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

Instead of attempting to victimize China, the West, including the UN for that matter, should take lessons in combating terrorism in a humane way. Rather than spend years in self-serving bloody wars in the guise of rooting out terrorists in foreign lands, the West can adopt the kind of counter-radicalization programs that China has used in neutralizing potential radicals and converting them to productive citizens.

Ultimately, the UN must make the U.S. pay reparations for the massive amount of losses that China has experienced due to sabotaging supply chains originating from Xinjiang. This might help to ensure that in future the country does not make wild allegations against those who it feels are powerless or cannot seek retribution for such gross injustice.