The Chinese Embassy in Wellington has rolled out a “propaganda” briefing about Xinjiang, attempting to disprove assertions that Beijing is committing human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims.

The two-hour briefing was conducted over video conference for journalists, academics, and politicians on Friday afternoon, and centred on a series of promotional videos and speeches given by people in Xinjiang about positive experiences of economic development, vocational education, and family planning.

New Zealand, among many countries, says Beijing has committed grave human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. The United Nations has been negotiating unfettered access to the region to investigate the reported persecution.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta last month said there was “clear evidence” of severe abuses including “restrictions on freedom of religion, mass surveillance, large-scale extra-judicial detentions, as well as forced labour and forced birth control, including sterilisation”.

New Zealand Uyghur Rizwangul NurMuhammad​, who has been campaigning for the release of her brother after he was imprisoned in Xinjiang for claimed separatist activities, said the briefing was “propaganda” that “has been happening all around the world”.

“This is a test of New Zealand’s relationship with China, whether New Zealand will stand up against the human right violation, whether New Zealand will acknowledge the genocide right before our eyes.”

She said her brother and mother have had their passports taken from them, and were not given the rights of Chinese citizens.

“If the Chinese Embassy is truthful about what it is saying about what is happening over there ... Where is my brother? Why can’t I communicate with my mother?

“The happiness of my family has been taken away forcefully, mercilessly.”

The briefing on Friday resembled a similar event held by the Chinese Embassy in Canberra earlier this month. Officials and Uyghur people, said to be speaking from Xinjiang, gave presentations and referred to the allegations of human rights abuse as “lies”, “farce”, and “slander” promoted by Western politicians and anti-Chinese forces.

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Amid a presentation about family planning, one woman said she was a wife who had one child, and planned to have a second child in the future.

A 31-year-old man said he had graduated from a “vocational centre” that remedied his extremism beliefs.

When answering questions, China’s Ambassador to New Zealand Wu Xi said “the door to Xinjiang is open”, a common phrase used by Chinese foreign service officials, and others in Xinjiang said, “We have nothing to hide”.

Yet Wu rejected any suggestion that China should provide unrestricted access to independent journalists or a UN investigation.

“We welcome any unbiased foreigners, but we firmly oppose any so-called investigation,” Wu said.

“Nobody has any right to have any investigation in China, because China is a sovereign country.”

National Party foreign affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee, speaking to the briefing, said the exercise showed China was concerned about the international perception of its activities in Xinjiang.

“With all due respect to the speaker that just finished, saying you welcome people, journalists, to come in... It’s caveated with what looks like fairly heavy restrictions. And for us, this is a very strange position.

“The effort appears to be, to say, ‘Nothing to see here, move on’. When, in our culture at least, that often means there’s something to see.

“Everything I’ve heard on this Zoom conference has caused me more concern about what is happening in Xinjiang.”

Two members of the audience, businessman David Mahon​ and president of the New Zealand China Friendship Society Dave Bromwich​, defended China’s actions in Xinjiang and shared their experiences of the region.

Mahon said claims of genocide were inappropriately applied.

Bromwich said Uyghur people living in New Zealand who had spoken to media “were perhaps part of the secessionist movement” in Xinjiang.