Genocide claim in Xinjiang a rumor fabricated with ulterior motives

Some Western politicians' claim of genocide in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is a preposterous rumor fabricated with ulterior motives and a thorough lie, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday in a news conference at the two sessions.

These politicians have been meddling in China's internal affairs by spreading lies about the human rights situations in Xinjiang.

It is pity that some politicians from the United States, Canada and Australia have made it their mission to sling mud at China. Absurd accusations of torture, forced labor and detention camps have become catchphrases for them to target the Xinjiang and central governments.

Some of the Western politicians have even sought an investigation into the human rights situation in Xinjiang, shedding crocodile tears for the local people. The allegations of genocide and forced labor are predicated on fake news and rumors being systematically spread by these politicians. But the facts on the ground－that the lives and livelihoods of Xinjiang residents have greatly improved over the past years－cannot be changed no matter how much the Western politicians politicize the issue.

Genocide is one of the most heinous and detestable crimes against humanity. Coined in 1944, the term means deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial or religious group.

Since the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 96 (I) in 1946, genocide has been considered a grave crime under the international law. And countries across the world have been committed to confronting and cracking down on people and regimes perpetrating genocide since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1951.

The International Court of Justice, too, has formulated a set of norms and standards for determining the crime of genocide. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which came into effect in July 2002, further established the jurisdiction over the crime of genocide emphasizing that it should be consistent with fact and evidence.

The widely acclaimed socioeconomic achievements of Xinjiang are enough to defeat the Western politicians' evil designs. If Western politicians are eager to know the truth, they should visit Xinjiang and see for themselves the remarkable socioeconomic achievements the region has made. As far as the Uygurs are concerned, their population has increased by 2.55 million over the past four decades at a growth rate of 25 percent, much higher than the average for Han and other ethnic groups in the region. More importantly, there have been no terrorist attacks in the region since 2017 and Xinjiang residents today have a deeper sense of gain and safety.

The conspiracy of these Western politicians will not succeed simply because there is no truth in their claims, and instead expose their real face. But then Western powers have always been prone to take advantage of human rights to target other countries and undermine international cooperation on human rights.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world, the priority is to make joint efforts to deal with the global health emergency. But in their desperation to prove their worth to the international community, some Western politicians resort to double standard to give other countries a bad name. For example, the COVID-19 death toll in the US has topped more than 521,000, more than the combined total of Americans killed in the two world wars and the Vietnam War. And the death rates among black people, Hispanics and Asians are much higher than that among white people.

The situation in Britain is also worrisome as the government's policies to deal with the pandemic have not proved effective despite the country having a sophisticated medical system.

Yet some Western politicians revel in targeting other countries, instead of making efforts to save lives in their own countries. That some Western politicians turn a blind eye to reports of their troops stationed in war-torn countries killing innocent civilians, if not defend them, shows they will not hesitate one bit to make repugnant allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

It is high time these politicians ended their political antagonism and ideological hostility, and stopped making baseless allegations against China, lest those boomerang on them. The choice is theirs.

The author is a researcher at the Institute of International Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.