China lashes out at Australia – accusing the country of racism and war crimes

China has accused Australia of racism and war crimes after an Australian diplomat raised concerns about torture and slavery in Xinjiang province.

The response came after Australian Ambassador James Larsen made a joint statement on behalf of fifteen countries at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

The statement urged Beijing to address allegations of human rights abuses and “crimes against humanity.”

In a strong response on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian called out Australia’s position, claiming it was motivated by “ideological prejudices” and “selfish political interests.”

“Because of their ideological bias, Australia, the US and a handful of other Western countries have fueled confrontation on multilateral platforms for their selfish political interests,” he told a news conference.

“Australia, long plagued by systemic racism and hate crimes, has seriously violated the rights of refugees and immigrants and left indigenous people with vulnerable living conditions.

“Australian soldiers have committed heinous crimes in Afghanistan and other countries during their military operations abroad,” Jian said.

The Chinese spokesperson then swung the ax at Australia’s allies.

Australia’s ambassador to the UN, James Larsen, called on China to review human rights abuses

“The US and some Western countries have a poor record on racism, gun violence, judicial injustice, wealth gaps, abuse of force, unilateral sanctions and other issues,” he said.

‘These Western countries turn a blind eye to their serious human rights issues at home, while pointing fingers at other countries.’

The United Nations report referred to by Mr Larsen, in a report released two years ago, found that the treatment of ethnic minorities and Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjian province amounted to crimes against humanity.

The report, released two years ago, contains detailed accounts of torture, rape and sexual violence with weapons, mass detention, slave labor and widespread surveillance in Xinjiang.

Despite numerous witness testimonies and independent documentation of forced labor sites, which the Chinese government calls “vocational training centers,” Beijing has rejected the UN report’s findings.

About a hundred countries responded to Larsen’s motion by saying that China’s internal affairs were China’s affair.

“The fact that more than a hundred Member States have expressed their support for China’s just position shows what the international community really stands for and shows that the attempt by a handful of Western countries, including Australia and the US, to resort to political manipulation under the pretext of Human rights will not gain support and will never succeed,” Mr. Lin said.

But the majority of countries have joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative or have a poor human rights record themselves.

Speaking at the UN, Mr Larsen admitted that no country can claim to have a ‘perfect’ human rights record.

“No country has a perfect human rights record, but no country is above fair scrutiny of its human rights obligations,” he said.

“It is incumbent on all of us not to undermine international human rights obligations, which benefit us all and for which all states are responsible.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia will ‘disagree where we should do it’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the criticism while addressing reporters in Apia, Samoa, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

“When it comes to China, we have said we will cooperate where we can, we will disagree where we must, and we will serve our national interest,” he said Thursday.

‘We have raised human rights issues with China. We have done this in a consistent and clear manner.’

Estimates suggest that China has detained about a million Uyghurs and other minorities in internment camps, known as training centers, in recent years.

The damning 2022 report found that ‘discriminatory detention’ has deprived minorities in the region of ‘fundamental rights’ constituting ‘crimes against humanity’.

China’s initial responses said the report was based on “lies fabricated by anti-China forces.”