Editor’s Note for Tuesday, May 24, 2022

My thoughts today:

One of the most awkward visits to China in recent memory is currently in progress: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is visiting Beijing, Xinjiang, and other places, as a result of years of international pressure from various groups for the UN to pay attention to the treatment of the Uyghurs.

Today, Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 presented Bachelet with a book by Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 on “Respecting and Protecting Human Rights” as a “special gift.” At around the same time she was gingerly accepting the gift, a new report documenting human rights abuses in Xinjiang dropped.

We have more on this below, and also on the Chinese foreign ministry’s response to Joe Biden’s tour of the Indo-Pacific.

Our word of the day is awkward (尴尬 gāngà).