UN rights chief can visit Xinjiang: China

BEIJING: UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet can visit Xinjiang, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday, adding that China does not welcome any investigation based on the presumption of guilt.

Bachelet has long sought access to the western Chinese region to investigate accusations of abuse against ethnic Ughurs. The issue has strained ties between Beijing and the West, sparking accusations of genocide from Washington and a US-led diplomatic boycott by some countries of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

"(China) rejects all kinds of biases, prejudices and uncalled-for accusations," Wang, who is also a Chinese state councilor, said by video at the Munich Security Conference when asked if Bachelet would have unrestricted access to Xinjiang.

Rights groups accuse China of widescale abuses against Ughurs and other minority groups, including torture, forced labour and detention of one million people in internment camps. China says the camps are re-education and training facilities and denies any abuse, saying it is fighting religious extremism.

The so-called systematic forced labour or education camps are all lies and fabrication, said Wang. "I hope you can believe the Chinese government, and trust what the Chinese government has said and the information that we have been releasing," he said.