On May 12, Spokesperson of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations expresses strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to a side event on the so-called human rights situation in Xinjiang organized by the US, the UK and Germany as well as several other countries and non-governmental organizations. The spokesperson points out that the event was full of lies and disinformation, and was another poor show by the US and a few other countries, further exposing their political attempt to use Xinjiang to create mess in and contain China. Such an event is resolutely resisted by the overwhelming majority of Member States and is an outright political farce.

The spokesperson stresses that this event is full of political motivation. While the US and some other Western countries talk about “human rights in Xinjiang”, they are actually thinking about using Xinjiang to contain China. They make a “presumption of guilt” and then fabricate so-called evidence. This trick has been repeated so many times, and so obvious to everyone.

The spokesperson points out that the co-sponsors of this event care nothing about human rights in Xinjiang. Between 1990 and 2016, thousands of terrorist attacks occurred in Xinjiang, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries. The US and some other countries did not care about human rights in Xinjiang back then and turned a blind eye to the terrorists’ indiscriminate killing of innocents. Thanks to China’s efforts, for more than four years, there has been no terrorist incident in Xinjiang and people there enjoy safety, peace and stability. And now these countries are concerned about human rights in Xinjiang. How ridiculous! The facts are crystal clear: The more than three million poor people in Xinjiang have all been lifted out of poverty; there are more than 24,000 mosques in the region, one for every 530 Muslims; primary and secondary education is conducted in seven languages, and TV and radio programs broadcast in five minority languages. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Xinjiang, with a population of more than 25 million, has 980 confirmed cases in total, among which 977 recovered and 3 died. In comparison, nearly 600,000 people died in the US, over 120,000 in the UK, and over 80,000 in Germany. How can there be human rights without the right to life and the right to development? What gives these countries the right to judge the human rights situation in Xinjiang?

The spokesperson points out that the so-called genocide, forced labor, systematic rape and torture in Xinjiang are all lies. Genocide is universally believed to be the most severe international crime. No State, organization, or individual is qualified or entitled to arbitrarily determine that another country has committed “genocide”. In the past 4 decades, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang grew from 5.55 million to 12.8 million, more than doubled. How is that genocide? In Xinjiang, 70% of cotton is harvested by machine. Jobs in the cotton industry are well-paid and competitive. Why is the need for forced labor? China is among the safest countries in the world. All crimes are punished in accordance with law. So-called systematic rape is just a shameless lie.

The spokesperson points out that it is the main sponsors of the event who are lying and need some soul-searching. It’s the US who waged wars in Iraq, Libya and Syria based on lies, killing countless innocent Muslims. It’s the UK who committed killings worldwide in several centuries of colonization, and set up in South Africa the world’s first concentration camp. It’s Germany who committed Holocaust against over 6 million Jewish people, leaving a horrible legacy of genocide. These countries’ wrongdoings will never be forgotten.

The spokesperson points out that Xinjiang is a wonderful land. People of all ethnic groups there will enjoy an even better life. On Xinjiang, China has nothing to hide. At the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, 64 countries, including Muslim countries, made a joint statement in support of China’s policies in Xinjiang. The door to Xinjiang is always open. In 2019 alone, Xinjiang received over 200 million Chinese and foreign visitors. In the past few years, over 1,200 diplomats, journalists and scholars from more than 100 countries have visited Xinjiang. We welcome everyone to visit Xinjiang, but we oppose investigation based on lies and with the presumption of guilt.

The spokesperson stresses China’s unswerving determination to defend its national sovereignty, security and development interests and oppose any country, any force or anyone to use Xinjiang to interfere in China’s internal affairs and disrupt China’s development. Any attempt of using Xinjiang to contain China is doomed to fail.