Nobody expected that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, would accuse China of genocide, as several Western parliaments have done.
But the fact that the former Chilean president uses the language of the perpetrators and describes internment camps as training centers is a slap in the face to the victims.
It is just as incomprehensible that the United Nations' top human rights commissioner should accept China's narrative that the suppression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang is a matter of anti-terrorist measures.
The low point of Bachelet's journey was reached when she lamented the "awful" human rights situation in America.
In doing so, she gave Chinese propaganda a through ball.
Of course, the United Nations is not an activist association.
They are an association of all states, including those that trample on human rights.
Not talking to China was not an option for Bachelet.
She seemed to be banking on publicly sparing Beijing criticism in order to obtain concessions, such as information on the whereabouts of individual internees.
The price for this is high.
Her credibility is at stake.
Bachelet can only preserve this if she finally finds clear words in her long-awaited report on human rights violations in Xinjiang.