Geneva, August 08: Last year’s unrest in Tibet and July’s violence in Xinjiang were instigated by separatists abroad, China told a United Nations human rights hearing on Friday.
“Facts have fully shown that the two incidents were premeditated and organised crimes of violence, directed and instigated by separatists abroad and carried out by separatists inside China,” said Duan Jielong, who led a 30-strong Chinese delegation attending a UN examination on China’s record on eliminating racial discrimination.
Duan accused the “separatists” of “creating ethnic splits and hatred, undermining… harmonious development in ethnic minority areas and undermining national unity and territorial integrity.”
He told the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: “These violent crimes not only gravely violated Chinese law, but also gravely violated the purposes and principles of the Convention.”
The government had taken “prompt action according to law” to stop these acts and was supported by Chinese people of “all ethnic groups,” said Duan.
It had the “confidence and capacity to … unite all ethnic groups,” he added.
–Agencies