West, China showdown looms in vote at UN human rights body

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s top human rights body is poised to vote on a proposal from Britain, Turkey, the United States and mostly Western countries to hold a debate next year on alleged rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s western Xinjiang region. It’s shaping up as a test of political and diplomatic clout between the West and Beijing. The vote on the proposal at the Human Rights Council follows days of backchannel arm-twisting, coaxing and convincing in Geneva and in many national capitals as Western countries try to build momentum on a report from former U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s office that found that possible “crimes against humanity” had occurred in Xinjiang.