Saudi crown prince defends China's terror fight, right to put Muslims in camps

Beijing:Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud - supposedly on look out for new alliances has appeared to defend China's use of re-education camps for its country's Muslim population.

"China has the right to carry out anti-terrorism and de-extremization work for its national security," the crown prince was quoted as saying on Chinese television, media reports said.

China has accused the local Muslim leadership and a section of population at Uighur in its Western Xinjiang region of supporting 'terrorism' and imposed a surveillance regime.

Chinese law enforcement agencies have detained an estimated 1 million Uighur Muslims in concentration camps, where they are undergoing re-education programs allegedly intended to combat extremism. The Uighur are an ethnic Turkic group that practices Islam and lives in Western China.

It may be mentioned that the Saidi Crown Prince has been at the receiving end of severe criticism from the western countries over the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

On his arrival in China, he was greeted by China's Vice Premier Han Zheng and both sides inked key agreements related to energy production and the chemical industry. 

China and Saudi Arabia have close economic ties, having done an estimated $63 billion worth of trade in 2018.

Chinese leadership has told the crown prince that the two countries must strengthen international cooperation on de-radicalisation to "prevent the infiltration and spread of extremist thinking", reports said. (UNI)