Labour MP Diane Abbott has apologised after appearing at an event alongside deniers of the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China.
On Saturday the former shadow home secretary gave a speech on tackling racism at an online meeting hosted by the pro-China campaign group No Cold War.
Ms Abbott, who had promoted the event on her Twitter feed, began her own talk by saying she was “pleased to be speaking at this important meeting”.
Minutes earlier attendees had heard from Jing Jing Li, an employee of Chinese state-controlled broadcaster CGTN, who accused foreign media and governments of “trying to create a racial conflict in China” with reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
“I noticed there were some narratives that these people tend to push, they were basically saying those ethnic groups culture and language are being wiped out. Their mosques, their temples are being destroyed, or those people are being used as forced labour,” Ms Jing Li said.
“And I think those people who are fabricating those fictions either don't understand Chinese or don't bother to dig out in the Chinese world because that's basically legally impossible to do in China.”
According to human rights groups, more than a million Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups languish in forced labour camps in the Xinjiang region.
The Chinese government denies conducting a program of forced integration against the Uyghur population, including surveillance, imprisonment, torture and forced “re-education camps”.
A recent parliamentary study in Canada accused the Chinese government of “genocide” for its treatment of Uyghurs. On Sunday, Ms Jing Li tweeted a CGTN article with the headline: “Why do we keep reading false reports about Xinjiang?”
On Saturday I took part in an online meeting entitled “Uniting against racism and the new cold war”I had no idea that there were people on the call who denied Chinese harassment and massacres of Muslims in Uyghur. The treatment of these communities is a human rights violation.
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) November 15, 2020
Danny Haiphong, a New York-based activist who spoke first at Saturday’s meeting, wrote in January: “I didn’t see concentration camps for Uyghurs in Xinjiang. In fact, it is difficult to walk more than a mile without running into a mosque.
“As more progress is made in Xinjiang, the more sinister and numerous the American Empire’s lies become.”
On Sunday Ms Abbott said she had had “no idea” about the speakers’ views before appearing at the event.
She tweeted: “On Saturday I took part in an online meeting entitled ‘Uniting Against Racism and the New Cold War’. I had no idea that there were people on the call who denied Chinese harassment and massacres of Muslims in Uyghur. The treatment of these communities is a human rights violation.
“Both I and the Labour Party condemn the human rights violations in Uyghur. I apologise if my involvement in Saturday’s event sent a different message. I continue to campaign against racism and for human rights internationally.”
Ms Abbott, who represents Hackney North and Stoke Newington and is a long-time campaigner on human rights issues, also faced criticism for the wording of her statement.
John Rentoul, the Independent’s chief political commentator, tweeted: “Yet again. I’m sorry if = not an apology. I’m sorry that = an apology.”
Journalist Oz Katerji, who raised concerns about Ms Abbotts appearance before yesterday’s event, said: “On the same day a new report is released into the treatment of Muslims in the Labour Party, the former Shadow Home Secretary is a speaker at an event in solidarity with Chinese government employees who justify the mass internment and oppression of millions of Chinese Muslims.”
Formed earlier this year, the No Cold War campaign accuses the US and other Western powers of threatening global peace with “aggressive” policies towards China.
Other speakers at Saturday’s meeting included the Lebanese American writer Rania Khalek, a contributor to Russian state media who has defended the Assad regime in Syria, and British rapper and activist Lowkey.
The Labour Party has been contacted for comment.
