China says its 'vocational training centres' provide counter-terrorism training and psychological counselling for those affected by "extremist thoughts", but former detainees have spoken of torture and brainwashing.

The new report, by US government-funded Freedom House, also mentions McClay's attendance in December 2017 at a dialogue in Beijing organised by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s International Liaison Department.

A spokesperson for McClay told Newshub it was "disappointing this report has taken two things and placed them out of context".

Referring to McClay's comments about the facilities in Xinjiang, the spokesperson pointed out that his full answer in an interview with Stuff about suspected human rights abuses had not been included in the report.

"Mr McClay stated that abuses of human rights are a concern wherever they occur and that if credible evidence of human rights abuses came to light, National would expect the Government to make representations to China through formal channels."

As for the report's mention of McClay's attendance at the CCP-organised event in 2017, the spokesperson said both the National Party and Labour Party were invited to participate.

"There were representatives from 120 countries. Mr McClay was asked to speak at the conference about trade and tourism opportunities between New Zealand and China."