Chinese president's record criticized as he touts women's rights at U.N.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.
(Image credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

During a meeting on gender equality Sunday at the United Nations, Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country would give $10 million to U.N. Women, but critics say it's a hollow message, considering several female activists have recently been arrested in his country.

Xi co-chaired segments of the meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, and said China would build more schools, create 100 health-related projects over the next five years, and host 30,000 women from developing countries in training programs, USA Today reports. "We should foster a global environment favorable for women's development," he said.

On Twitter, Hillary Clinton said it was "shameless" for Xi to host a meeting on women's rights while "persecuting feminists." She referred to the FreeThe20 campaign, which is bringing attention to the arrests of 20 women in China, including lawyer Wang Yu, who is representing a group of five women jailed in March because of their plan to speak out against sexual harassment.

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.