China to UN panel: no arbitrary detention in Uighur region

China is insisting that there is no "arbitrary detention" and there are no "re-education centres" in the Xinjiang region after a UN human rights committee raised concern over reported mass detentions of ethnic Uighurs.

Beijing responded today to questions raised by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

A committee member cited estimates that over a million people from Muslim minorities are held in "counter-extremism centres" and another 2 million have been forced into "re-education camps."

China's delegation told the panel that "there is no arbitrary detention ... there are no such things as re-education centres."

It said Xinjiang provides convicted criminals with skills to reintegrate themselves at "vocational education and employment training centres."

It said: "the argument that a million Uighurs are detained in re-education centres is completely untrue.