achievements in the field of human rights," just a day after a group of 22 other countries formally condemned Beijing for the mass detention of ethnic and religious minorities in the country's Xinjiang region.
The Thursday letter was the first major collective international challenge to China's ongoing policy in its far western border region, where experts estimate up to 2 million people have been detained in vast re-education style camps. Many of those detained are ethnic Uyghurs and Muslims.
Beijing denies any allegations of torture or political indoctrination, and says the camps are "vocational training centers" designed to fight terrorism and combat Islamic extremism.
China's partners backed that claim in their Friday letter, claiming the signatories to the Thursday statement were politicizing human rights issues, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
In their letter, the 37 envoys commended China's efforts in "protecting human and promoting human rights through development," echoing a common refrain used in Chinese state media.
"The past three consecutive years has seen not a single terrorist attack in Xinjiang and people there enjoy a stronger sense of happiness, fulfillment and security," the envoys said.
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The countries backing China included several accused of human rights violations. Among those listed are Saudi Arabia, accused of jailing and executing dissidents and critics of the regime; Russia, accused of cracking down on individual freedoms and killing critics of President Vladimir Putin; Myanmar, accused of carrying out crimes against humanity targeting the minority Rohingya community inside the country; Syria,
where the Bashar al Assad regime has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians; and North Korea, which is accused of detaining more than 100,000 political prisoners in a gulag-like facilities.
"The pro-China signatories include a rogues' gallery of rights abusing countries that have zero credibility when it comes to human rights," Elaine Pearson of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Pearson said it appears the letter criticizing China "touched a nerve."
"Clearly the Chinese government is feeling so insecure that it needs to issue a statement praising itself," she said.
North Korea, Syria and Myanmar among countries defending China's actions in Xinjiang
Ambassadors representing 37 countries praised China for its "remarkable achievements in the field of human rights," just a day after a group of 22 other countries formally condemned Beijing for the mass detention of ethnic and religious minorities in the country's Xinjiang region.
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