China defends Xinjiang crackdown after UN chief raises issue

China Tuesday rejected "any interference" in its internal affairs after UN chief Antonio Guterres raised the plight of ethnic Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang region during a visit to Beijing.

Guterres had been under pressure from rights groups to publicly confront Beijing over the mass detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities in Xinjiang during his trip.

The was no public denunciation, but UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres raised the issue during talks with Chinese leaders when he attended a summit