A Uygur family harvests ripe grapes in Turpan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo/People's Daily Online]

China hit back on Thursday at a United Nations report on the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, saying that it was a mishmash of disinformation and a political tool to exploit Xinjiang to contain China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the remarks after the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, on Wednesday issued a so-called assessment of human rights concerns in Xinjiang.

"The report was planned and manufactured firsthand by the US and some Western forces, and is totally illegal and invalid", Wang said.

He said the US and some Western countries went to great lengths to pressure the OHCHR to release the report, and their schemes would be unpopular and lead nowhere.

As the OHCHR compiled the report based on the political motives of some anti-China forces, Wang said it seriously ran counter to the mandate of the OHCHR and violated the principles of universality, objectivity, non-selectivity and the non-politicization of human rights.

"It once again proves that the OHCHR has been reduced to being the accomplice and enforcer of the US and other Western countries to force developing countries to fall in line with them," Wang added.

What the OHCHR should truly care about are severe human rights violations committed by the US and other Western countries, including genocide of indigenous people and systemic racism against minorities, Wang said.

The report couldn't be said to represent the United Nations, let alone the international community, Wang said, adding that opposition to the report was the mainstream viewpoint in the international community.

According to Wang, more than 60 countries have written to the OHCHR to oppose the release of the report and nearly 1,000 nongovernmental organizations and people from Xinjiang have also expressed their objections.

Nearly 100 countries, including Muslim nations, have at various meetings of the UN Human Rights Council and on other public occasions expressed their support for China's legitimate position on Xinjiang-related issues and opposition to using Xinjiang-related issues to interfere in China's internal affairs, Wang said.

"People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are in the best position to tell the world what the human rights situation is like in Xinjiang," Wang said.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet visited Xinjiang in May and conducted extensive and in-depth exchanges with people there. People from all walks of life in Xinjiang had voluntarily written to her, hoping she would hear their voices and objectively view the human rights situation in the region.

Xinjiang has in recent years enjoyed steady economic growth, social harmony and stability, and improved livelihoods, with a thriving culture, and freedom of religious belief and harmony, Wang said.

Foreign friends who have visited Xinjiang all said that they saw a completely different Xinjiang from that described by Western media and anti-China forces, he added.

China will continue to firmly follow the path of human rights with Chinese characteristics, Wang said.

Violations of international law

“This has included far-reaching, arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on human rights and fundamental freedoms, in violation of international laws and standards”, including restrictions on religious freedom and the rights to privacy and movement.

Furthermore, the report said that Chinese Government policies in the region have “transcended borders”, separating families, “severing” contacts, producing “patterns of intimidations and threats” against the wider Uyghur diaspora who have spoken out about conditions at home.

OHCHR said that the Chinese Government “holds the primary duty to ensure that all laws and policies are brought into compliance with international human rights law and to promptly investigate any allegations of human rights violations, to ensure accountability for perpetrators, and to provide redress to victims.”

tment, as well as forced labour and reports of deaths in custody.”