Chinese defend Hong Kong, Xinjiang record at U.N. hearing

Chinese envoys have defended Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities during an unusual public confrontation at a U.N. meeting

Chinese envoys have defended Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities in an unusual public confrontation with human rights advocates at a U.N. meeting.

During the meeting of the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the officials also rejected complaints that China's ruling Communist Party hampered the global response to COVID-19 by hiding information.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government faces accusations that abuses have multiplied as Beijing tried to crush a pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, carried out mass detentions of Muslim minorities and silenced labor, women’s rights and other activists.

Mr. Xi’s government has previously rejected the accusations, but two days of hearings that ended Thursday in Geneva gave activists an unusual opportunity to air criticism in the presence of Chinese officials.

The crackdown on Hong Kong in response to anti-government protests that began in 2019 prompted complaints Beijing was eroding the autonomy and Western-style civil liberties promised when the former British colony returned to China in 1997.

An official of Hong Kong’s security bureau said a 2020 security law under which leading activists have been arrested “does not affect the legitimate rights” of the public to criticize official decisions or affect academic freedom.

“Nevertheless, such rights and freedoms are not absolute,” Simon Wong, a principal assistant secretary in the bureau, said. “If illegal acts are involved, they can be restricted by the law.”