German footballer Mesut Ozil, who plays for Premier League club Arsenal, has been invited to visit China, amid a row over the treatment of the Muslim minority Uygur population in Western China. 

Ozil, who won the World Cup with Germany in 2014, is Muslim. He posted a message on Twitter, which accused China of mistreatment of the minority population in Xinjiang, and in response Beijing's Foreign Ministry has invited the footballer to visit the region.

In a press conference, Geng Shuang, China's foreign ministry spokesman, said Ozil "seems to be blindfolded by some fake news and his judgment was clouded by falsehoods." 

He added: "We welcome Mr Ozil to visit Xinjiang and see the place with his own eyes. As long as he still has an unbiased mind and the conscience to tell the truth, he will see a Xinjiang different from what he thought it was." 

The Chinese Football Association said Ozil had "hurt Chinese fans," while Ozil's own club Arsenal, in London, distanced itself from the footballer's comments, saying it was "always apolitical as an organisation." Arsenal's match against Manchester City was pulled from Chinese television after the row.

Across social media, from Chinese site Weibo to Ozil's own Instagram account, Chinese football fans showed their displeasure with the player's statement. "As a Chinese football fan, I'm very disappointed. Why can't you just focus on playing football?" one user wrote below Ozil's post on Instagram. Some fans burned replica Arsenal shirts. 

Ozil has courted controversy before, notably in 2018 when he was criticized by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for meeting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London. Ozil and international teammate Ilkay Gundogan, who are both German but of Turkish ancestry were heavily criticized by the national team's fans and booed on the football pitch. Ozil retired from international football over the treatment he received in Germany for the meeting, which he described as "unfair discrimination."

Furthermore, Ozil made Erdogan best man at his wedding in June this year.