Fact-checking report exposes Xinjiang lies: China Daily editorial

The narrative the United States and some of its allies have constructed for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region boasts almost all elements of a typical Hollywood flick, including the essential ingredient of the underdog fighting hostile forces.

But in a report, "Things to know about all the lies on Xinjiang: How have they come about", released on Wednesday, China Watch Institute, a think tank of China Daily, combs through the ways in which different players scratch one another's back to create this story arc. The report shows the inspiring legend of the freedom-fighting Uygurs is nothing but a geopolitical scheme that does not stand up to scrutiny.

The CIA suggested as early as 2003, when terrorism, extremism and secessionism were wreaking havoc in Xinjiang, that should the US find itself in a crisis or confrontation with China in the future, the option of using the "Uygur card" as a means of exerting pressure should not be taken off the table.

As the report exposes, many of the media outlets, think tanks, institutes and nongovernmental organizations participating in the plot-writing are just paid by governments to provide the Uygur cards for their funders. To distort the truth of Xinjiang, they have to ignore professional ethics and break codes of conduct and also quote one another, making their underhand dealings not that difficult to spot.

For instance, almost all the Uygur interviewees appearing in their reports are paid by the US intelligence agencies. In return for allowing their ethnic identity to be used by their foreign patrons, they gain a stage to openly advocate secessionism.

The rise of extremism, secessionism and terrorism in Xinjiang can be attributed to the US' instigation after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The US intentionally fabricated the impression that the Uygurs support "independence", and created the illusion that the terrorist group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has close ties with al-Qaida, is fighting for peace.

When the extremists, secessionists and terrorists brainwashed locals with their harmful thought and mobilized them to organize violent attacks on civilians, including Uygurs, the US and its allies maintained a studied silence.

It is the effective measures China has taken to cut the channels for the transmission of "holy war" ideology since several years ago that has made the US and its puppets feel uncomfortable as their joint cause has come to a dead end in practice.

That said, the more the US and its allies try to smear China's practices in Xinjiang, which have won the broad support of all ethnic groups living in the region and recognition from the majority of the international community, the more it demonstrates China's pro-stability, pro-peace and pro-development efforts in the region are effective.