Anthony Albanese has dismissed criticisms by China’s foreign ministry that Australia is plagued by “systemic racism” and “hate crimes” after Australia’s top diplomat raised concerns about rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Lin Jian, accused Australia and other nations who joined the statement of double standards, saying it was “political manipulation under the pretext of human rights”.
Concerns over human rights in the Chinese regions remains a sticking point for the two countries after a diplomatic thaw in recent years.
The prime minister, who is in Samoa for a Commonwealth heads of government meeting, said Australia would stand up for its interests.
“When it comes to China, we’ve said we’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we’ll engage in our national interest, and we’ve raised issues of human rights with China. We’ve done that in a consistent and clear way,” Albanese said.
James Larsen, Australia’s ambassador to the United Nations, delivered a joint statement from 15 countries, including Australia, the US and the UK, on the “ongoing concerns about serious human rights violations in China”.
Larsen said China must uphold its international human rights obligations and release all “individuals arbitrarily detained in both Xinjiang and Tibet”, and urgently clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing family members.
“Transparency and openness are key to allaying concerns, and we call on China to allow unfettered and meaningful access to Xinjiang and Tibet for independent observers, including from the UN, to evaluate the human rights situation,” Larsen said.
“No country has a perfect human rights record, but no country is above fair scrutiny of its human rights obligations.”
Lin fired back at the statement, claiming many of the countries involved “turn a blind eye to their severe human rights issues at home but in the meantime point their fingers at other countries”.
“Australia, long plagued by systemic racism and hate crimes, has severely violated the rights of refugees and immigrants, and left Indigenous people with vulnerable living conditions,” he said.
“Australian soldiers have committed abhorrent crimes in Afghanistan and other countries during their military operations overseas.”
China has placed an estimated 1 million Uyghurs and other minority groups into internment camps, termed training centres, in recent years.
The former UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet released a damning report in 2022 which found China had committed “serious human rights violations” against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province, which may amount to crimes against humanity.
The 45-page report said “the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups, pursuant to law and policy, in context of restrictions and deprivation more generally of fundamental rights enjoyed individually and collectively, may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”.
Beijing responded the report was “based on the disinformation and lies fabricated by anti-China forces”.
