China rejects baseless and absurd Xinjiang claims, envoy says

A Chinese envoy to the United Nations on Monday dismissed accusations by the United States and the United Kingdom over China's northwestern region of Xinjiang as "baseless and absurd".

"China firmly rejects the accusation against China by certain members of the (Security) Council. It is baseless and absurd as usual," said Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN.

The situation in Xinjiang is totally China's internal affairs. It is not a religion issue or a human rights issue. Rather, it is about counterterrorism and anti-extremism, Geng said at a virtual meeting of the council on threats to international peace and security from terrorism.

"Terrorism is our common enemy. There is no such thing as good or bad terrorists. China is firmly opposed to politicization and double standards in counterterrorism."

Xinjiang has suffered deeply from terrorism and violent extremism in the past. To address the threat, Geng said Xinjiang has taken a series of preventive counterterrorism and deradicalization measures.

"These measures are widely supported by the people in Xinjiang and have yielded good results. Xinjiang has not seen a single terror incident in the past three years." he said. "Facts speak louder than words. Anyone that is fair-minded can tell right from wrong."

Geng told the meeting that since late 2018, more than 70 foreign delegations have visited Xinjiang.

"They see first hand a stable, thriving and developing Xinjiang, and agree that counterterrorism and deradicalization efforts have made this possible," he said.

"We urge the United States to listen to the international community, admit facts, give up bigotry and double standards and stop interfering in China's internal affairs by using human rights as an excuse."

Geng said that if the United States truly cares about human rights, it should fix its own problems first. "Please protect the human rights of the American people. Please step up the effort to combat COVID-19 to safeguard lives and the health of the American people," he said.

Geng said the UK had again followed the US lead in promoting unfounded charges against China.

"We urge the UK to fix its own problems and stop interfering in China's internal affairs," he said.

On the broader situation, Geng that while the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have temporarily reduced the risk of terrorist attacks, the socioeconomic fallout from the crisis has the potential to exacerbate conditions conducive to terrorism.

"It could feed into a vicious circle of destabilization and violence and increase the midterm to long-term threat, which Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, and other terrorist organizations are keen to explore and exploit," Geng said.

Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, said the global coronavirus crisis underscored the challenges involved in eliminating terrorism, as he presented the Security Council with the latest report on ISIL's impact on international peace and security.

"This pandemic environment raises several strategic and practical challenges for counterterrorism," he told council members during a videoconference briefing.

Cooperation urged

According to the report, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is witnessing a surge in activities of terrorist organizations such as ISIL in Iraq and Syria to rebuild their global operational capability. Terrorists including ISIL also are infiltrating North Africa, in particular Libya, worsening regional turbulence. ISIL also has announced that it may use the virus as a biological weapon.

Geng said China resolutely implements all relevant UN resolutions.

"We actively participate in international and regional counterterrorism cooperation through the UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other fora. We work closely with other member states in sharing intelligence and combating terrorist financing, transnational organized crime and cyberterrorism," he said.

"China will work with the international community to analyze in depth the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global terrorist activities, and continue to have bilateral and multilateral exchange and capacity-building cooperation with other countries, especially developing countries, including those in Africa.

"We will continue to provide political and financial support to UN counterterrorism efforts for the maintenance of international peace and security."

Xinhua contributed to the story.