Impossible not to associate his visit with the fate of the Uyghurs, this repressed Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

For the first time in nearly two decades, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is visiting China on Monday.

This six-day visit will be closely observed.

Michelle Bachelet will notably travel to Urumqi and Kashgar, in Xinjiang, as well as to Canton in southern China.

Michelle Bachelet, Chile's former president, will meet "a number of senior officials at the national and local levels", her office said on Friday.

“Genocide” in Xinjiang

She “will also meet with civil society organizations, representatives of the business world and academics, and give a lecture to students from the University of Canton”.

But hopes for a full international investigation into what the United States and other countries have called "genocide" in Xinjiang have given way to concern from human rights organizations, which fear the Party communist in power does not use this visit to clear customs.

Vocational training centers

They accuse Beijing of practicing since 2017 a systematic repression of the Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic groups in the region, such as the Kazakhs.

They accuse the Chinese regime of having locked up more than a million people in re-education camps.

Beijing disputes this figure and explains that these are “vocational training centers” intended to fight Islamist radicalism, after attacks attributed to Uyghurs.

China calls the accusations of genocide the "lie of the century", arguing that its policy has made it possible to fight against extremism and improve the living conditions of the inhabitants.

“Free access” to Xinjiang

Michelle Bachelet will meet with foreign ambassadors virtually on Monday before traveling to Xinjiang on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to diplomatic sources in Beijing.

The visit is the first of its kind since 2005, when Beijing was keen to soften its global image ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

UN officials have been wrestling with the Chinese government since 2018 to gain "free and meaningful access" to Xinjiang.

But activists fear that this trip, obtained in March, is only a show during which the key issues will not be mentioned.

According to academics and overseas-based Uighurs, Xinjiang authorities in recent years appear to have abandoned harsh crackdowns to focus once again on economic development in the region.

A “manipulated” visit

"Now there is not much visible evidence of a repression," Peter Irwin of the Uyghur Human Rights Project told AFP.

Advocacy groups have warned that pervasive state surveillance and fear of reprisals will prevent Uyghurs on the ground from speaking freely to the UN team.

"We fear the visit is being manipulated by the Chinese government to whitewash serious abuses in Xinjiang," said Maya Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Michelle Bachelet has also been criticized for not being more outspoken about Xinjiang.

The “last chance” visit

The United States warned on Friday that Ms. Bachelet's "persistent silence in the face of indisputable evidence of atrocities committed in Xinjiang" was "deeply concerning".

His reluctance to criticize may be a sign of Beijing's powerful influence at the United Nations, which puts officials "under many constraints", said Peter Irwin.

"If it was any other government in the world, the investigation would have been done."

Contrary to what happened for other regions, like the Crimea annexed by Russia, the United Nations Human Rights Office did not use its remote surveillance mandate for Xinjiang and did not does not have an office in China.

For Maya Wang, this visit is "the last chance for Ms. Bachelet to save her reputation on China".

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  • Michelle Bachelet

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