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

The U.N.’s top human rights body is poised to vote Thursday on a proposal from Britain, Turkey, the United States and other 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, released Aug. 31, that found that possible “crimes against humanity” had occurred in Xinjiang.