Xinjiang's development debunks anti-China fallacies

The stability and development of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has shown its better protection of human rights and also debunked fallacies fabricated by Western anti-China forces, experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.

Xinjiang has seen great changes in various areas over the past few years, which are the best answers to the fake claims made by the anti-China forces, including "genocide" and "forced labor", according to Lyu Wenli, a research fellow at the academy's Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies.

While witnessing the success of poverty relief and a rapidly developing economy since 2014, "Xinjiang has also established a complete education system, with medical and healthcare facilities across the region," he said at a seminar on human rights, which was held by the institute on Wednesday.

The Uygur population in Xinjiang increased from 8.35 million in 2000 to 11.6 million last year, while its employed population grew from 11.3 million in 2014 to 13.5 million last year, he said.

Meanwhile, the policies of re-education have worked effectively in Xinjiang, contributing to regional stability and curbing terrorist violence, he said.

"The achievements are thanks to the unceasing efforts made by the central leadership and the regional governments at each level, as they've always taken a people-centered approach and made the protection of human rights a priority," he added.

As China intensified the fight against terrorism to guarantee residents' rights to life, health and development in Xinjiang, some Western politicians began accusing China of carrying out human rights violations targeting Xinjiang, even during the ongoing pandemic, according to Xing Guangcheng, the institute's head.

"The accusations are biased and become their tools against China. It's also their double standard on human rights," he said, adding that the United States has no right to judge human rights issues in other countries because of its own tarnish in this regard.

In the U.S., for example, Muslims often face discrimination, and Islamophobia has made Muslim residents unwelcome and too hard to be trusted, according to Zhou Qi, a research fellow at the academy's Institute of American Studies.

Citing a survey made by Pew Research Center in the U.S. in 2014, she said that about 62 percent of U.S. citizens did not know any Muslims, but they tended to treat Muslims from the worst possible perspective, as they were mainly influenced by media and so-called international professionals.

In addition, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 also caused great damage to the human rights of local people, said Zhu Quangang, from the academy's China-Africa Institute.

"The invasion was a disaster for Iraq, causing the country's long-term economic stagnation and making its people feel unsafe for a long time," he added.

Fan Enshi, deputy head of the Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, called for more research on human rights issues and Xinjiang from the academic perspective, as they not only relate to China's sovereignty, but also national security.