It is the US that needs to reflect on its strategy in anti-terrorism fight: China Daily editorial

If some in the West still have doubts about the United States' double standard on terrorism when it comes to China's fight against terrorism and extremism in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the two videos released by China Global TV Network show how absurd, ridiculous and outrageous the US' Uygur Act of 2019 is.

The videos show how violent and heartless the terrorists were when they attacked with knives innocent residents of different ethnic groups on the streets and how terrorists were brainwashed to launch suicide-bomb attacks in crowded markets. In one of the videos, a Uygur woman tells how she lost one of her legs in such an attack when she was shopping with her mother.

Thousands of terrorist attacks took place in Xinjiang from 1990 to 2016, according to related statistics, and the videos show how the East Turkestan Islamic Movement trained even women and children to launch such attacks and how a boy, who was only 6 years old, was taught to use a gun by his father.

Should the central government and local government have looked on without doing anything when residents in Xinjiang were at risk from a terrorist attack?

Yes, according to the logic of those on Capitol Hill, who choose to misinterpret China's fight against terrorism and extremism as ethnic repression and China's education centers as internment camps.

Since the US suffered a terrorist attack in 2001, it has launched one war after another in other countries.

After the Iraq War was launched by the US, frequent suicide bomb attacks happened in Iraq and other countries, killing tens of thousands of people, yet those on Capitol Hill never said anything ill of the war.

Millions of Syrians have lost their homes and become refugees because of the war supported by the US that has lasted for eight years and is still going on in Syria, why didn't those on Capitol Hill rise up to condemn the US government for causing a humanitarian crisis?

The Islamic State would not have risen up without the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Al-Qaida would not have expanded as fast as it did had the US not got involved in Afghanistan.

It is the US that should reflect on its counter-terrorism strategy and on its double standard in the fight against terrorism.

China has done a good job in its fight against terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang. Its de-extremism education has not only helped prevent a lot of young people from being radicalized, but also helped them land jobs and start a new life.

That not a single terrorist attack has taken place in three years since 2016 verifies the effectiveness of China's anti-terrorism efforts. The world owes China a salute for what it has achieved in this regard.