Western media outlets and the US/EU influenced international human right bodies have once again tried to spoil the soft image of China during 2 Sessions by propagating so-called human violations in Xinjiang and Xizang regions. They have fabricated a number of rumors and lies on issues related to both the regions which are untrue, false and fake.
Xinjiang and Xizang have always attached great importance to safeguarding human rights, fully ensuring the rights to subsistence, development, political participation, cultural expression, social participation, and religious belief of all ethnic groups.
It seems that intentionally, Volker Turk, UN human rights chief called on China to amend its laws that violate fundamental rights naming China’s Xinjiang and Xizang regions. He also called for the release of so-called human rights defenders detained for picking quarrels and making trouble.
In response to the smear, Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly negated the UN human right chief statement with equating the concept of happy life as the most important human right. China has been pursuing people’s centric policies and plans to protect and advance the fundamental interests of the greatest majority of the people.
China has its own unique model of economic growth and human development which completely guarantees human rights and secures provisions of basic necessities of life. It follows its own model which fits its national realities and has made historic achievements in the human rights cause.
Despite the Western propaganda, Xinjiang and Xizang regions enjoy utmost social stability, immense economic growth, unshakable solidarity among all ethnic groups and harmony among various religious beliefs, and the people there are living a happy life.
China is open, transparent and responsible and stands ready to carry out dialogue and communication with the UN human rights body and other parties on the basis of mutual respect to enhance understanding, build up consensus and jointly provide positive energy for global human rights governance.
Mao rightly urge the UN human rights body to respect the judicial sovereignty of member states, carry out its work under the principle of impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity and non-politicization, and play a constructive role in promoting the healthy development of the international human rights cause.
Mao highlighted political agenda and double standards of the US and other Western countries behind their manipulation of human rights issues, and their rumors and lies have been rejected by more and more people. She termed that the accusations of the so-called human rights violations in Xinjiang and Xizang regions are completely Western conspiracies.
She emphasized that not a single policy, plan and law is anti-human in Xinjiang and Xizang. Thus the accusations against China’s legislation and judicial work are indeed interference in China’s internal affairs.
Moreover, the Chinese Ambassador in Geneva expounded China’s perspectives on advancing and safeguarding human rights, stressing that peace and development are crucial pillars for promoting and protecting human rights.
Obviously, China’s holistic policies of community and social development, multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, balanced regional economic parity, diversification of energy and resources, human capital and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in both the regions have produced socio-economic miracles for the lives of common people. In Xingjian over 480,000 new urban jobs were created in 2023. People of all ethnic groups have free and decent work, with continuously increasing incomes.
Xinxiang holds around 20 percent of global cotton, 40 percent of the world’s supply of poly-silicon for solar panels, and 13 percent of the global output of wind turbines. About 25 percent of tomato paste, 11 percent of walnuts, and 10 percent of the world’s rayon also originate from here. Thus Xinjiang has become a global manufacturing hub and reliable supply chain.
All people in Xingjian and Xizang are not living in a so called open air prison as showcased by the US and EU propagandists but live in “peace”, “prosperity” and “harmony”.
Thus, there is no incident of dissident, disharmony and disability among the different ethnic groups living in far-flung areas of China especially Xinjiang and Xizang. The overall economic performance, conditions and prospects in terms of GNP, supplies of social services, medical, housing, education and other basic necessities of life have further enhanced and consolidated in these regions.
It claimed that there has been an “unprecedented and precipitous drop in official birth-rates in Xinjiang since 2017. China maintains that changes in birth rates are linked to improved health and economic policy and it strongly rejects accusations of genocide.
Xinjiang’s Uyghur population grew faster than that of the Han between 2010 and 2018, and Xinjiang’s birth control policies do not target any single ethnic minority group. It is constantly making “immense” socio-economic development.
It took the lead in China’s exports to the five Central Asian countries in 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 23.2 percent. Xinjiang’s total imports and exports during the year surged 45.9 percent, the second-fastest growth rate in the nation and 45.7 percentage points higher than the national growth rate in imports and exports during 2023. Xinjiang’s regional GDP also grew by 6.8 percent year-on-year, compared to the national growth rate of 5.2 percent in 2023.
All indicators show that Xinjiang is transforming from a backward area in China into a high speed-growth region and it is also an area with relatively rapid industrialization,
Xinjiang’s biggest achievement in the past decade is that it’s maintained stability and so it developed. The central government’s persistent and sound policies in Xinjiang are also why “the West’s smear campaign against Xinjiang has not succeeded and on the contrary, Xinjiang has become more and more prosperous and stable.
In summary, the West led by the US and the UN Human Right Body have been smearing Xinjiang with baseless claims such as “forced labor” and has even tried to crack down on businesses that source materials such as cotton from Xinjiang; however, the vicious campaign is doomed to collapse as it continues to develop steadily and holds vast potential for development,
The Xinjiang regional government is eyeing greater development goals in 2024 and beyond. For 2024, the region has set a GDP growth rate target of around 6.5 percent, which is notably higher than around 5 percent growth targets set in many other Chinese regions. The region is also aiming to keep imports and exports growing at around 20 percent in 2024.
Accusations of human rights violations by Western countries and their media are groundless. It seems to be an obvious interference in China’s internal affairs, attempting to politicize the so-called Xinjiang and Xizang issue to suppress China’s development. (The writer is: Director at the Center for South & International Studies (CSAIS) Islamabad, Regional Expert: China, CPEC & BRI
