China urges Australia to close offshore detention centres

China on Friday said it was "deeply concerned" by what it described as the Australian government's operation of offshore detention centers, and called for the sites to be closed immediately. Ties between the two countries soured in 2018 when Australia became the first nation to publicly ban China's Huawei from its 5G network and worsened when Australia last year called for an inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus.

In a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, China alleged the detention centers "fall short of adequate medical conditions where a large number of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers have been detained over a long period of time or even indefinitely, and their human rights have been violated."

It did not specify any locations, describing them as "third countries." Asylum seekers intercepted at sea en route to Australia are sent for "processing" to Papua New Guinea or to the South Pacific island of Nauru.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal working hours.

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