Q: Heiner Bielefeldt, special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief of the UN said that he is disconcerted by the Chinese government's crackdown over the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and there has been no progress on his request to visit China. What is China's response to that?
A: The Chinese government protects its citizens' freedom of religion or belief as well as normal religious activities in accordance with the law and fully respects the customs of ethnic minorities. The so-called crackdown on the Uighurs is absolutely baseless.
As for the visit to China, I believe you are referring to the visits by the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. China attaches importance to cooperating with the UN human rights mechanisms. The Human Rights Council has as many as 53 Special Procedures, many of which have requested to visit China. China has been taking full consideration of all the requests, and has sent out invitations in a methodical and orderly way. In recent years, China has hosted the special rapporteur on the right to food, the working group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice and others. We has extended invitations to the special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the special rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation and the independent expert on the effects of foreign debt to visit China when it is convenient for them. We are now in communication with the above-mentioned Special Procedures for the arrangements of their visits.
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