China rejects baseless and absurd Xinjiang claims, envoy says

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Monday dismissed accusations by the United States and the United Kingdom over China's northwestern region of Xinjiang as "baseless and absurd".

"China firmly rejects the accusation against China by certain members of the (Security) Council. It is baseless and absurd as usual," said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN.

The situation in Xinjiang is totally China's internal affairs. It is not a religion issue or a human rights issue. Rather, it is about counterterrorism and anti-extremism, Geng said at a virtual meeting of the council on threats to international peace and security from terrorism.