France’s Macron expressed concerns about human rights to China’s Wang Yi

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed strong concerns about the situation in Hong Kong and human rights for China’s Muslim Uighur minority during a meeting on Friday with the Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, his office said.

Following months of protests, a new security law was introduced in Hong Kong that has drawn wide criticism in the West for jeopardising basic rights and freedoms the special administrative region was promised when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslim Uighurs have been detained in camps in the Xinjiang region.

China denies mistreatment and says the camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.