China rejects UN report on Uyghur rights abuses in Xinjiang

Residents watch a convoy of security personnel armed with batons and shields patrol through central Kashgar in western China's Xinjiang region, Nov. 5, 2017. [File, AP Photo]

China has denounced a long-delayed U.N. report that was released over its protest and that says the government's arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity.

Human rights groups and the Japanese government welcomed the report, which had become caught up in a tug-of-war between China and others, who were critical of the delay and lobbying for its release.