China's UN mission rebukes virtual event on Xinjiang

A spokesperson for China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to a side event Wednesday on the so-called human rights situation in Xinjiang organized by the US, the UK, Germany and several other countries.

The virtual event, which was "full of lies and disinformation", was "another poor show by the US and a few other countries" that further exposed their political attempt to use the Xinjiang autonomous region to create a mess, the spokesperson's statement said.

"Such an event is resolutely resisted by the overwhelming majority of member states and is an outright political farce," the statement said.

The event was politically motivated, the spokesperson said. While the US and some other Western countries talk about "human rights in Xinjiang", they are actually thinking about using Xinjiang to contain China, the spokesperson said.

"They make a 'presumption of guilt' and then fabricate so-called evidence. This trick has been repeated so many times, and it's so obvious to everyone," the spokesperson added.

The co-sponsors of the event "care nothing about human rights in Xinjiang", the statement said.

Thousands of terrorist attacks occurred in Xinjiang between 1990 and 2016, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries, the statement said.

"The US and some other countries did not care about human rights in Xinjiang back then and turned a blind eye to the terrorists' indiscriminate killing of innocents," the spokesperson said.

Thanks to China's efforts, there has been no terrorist incident in Xinjiang for more than four years, and people there enjoy safety, peace and stability.

"And now these countries are concerned about human rights in Xinjiang. How ridiculous," the spokesperson said.

The more than 3 million poor people in Xinjiang in Northwest China have all been lifted out of poverty, the spokesperson noted. There are more than 24,000 mosques in the region, one for every 530 Muslims; primary and secondary education is conducted in seven languages; and TV and radio programs broadcast in five minority languages.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Xinjiang, with a population of more than 25 million, has 980 confirmed coronavirus cases, among which 977 people recovered and three died. In comparison, nearly 600,000 people have died in the US, more than 120,000 in the UK, and over 80,000 in Germany, the spokesperson said.

"How can there be human rights without the right to life and the right to development? What gives these countries the right to judge the human rights situation in Xinjiang," the spokesperson asked.

The spokesperson pointed out that the so-called genocide, forced labor, "systematic rape" and torture in Xinjiang are all lies.

Genocide is universally believed to be the most severe international crime. No state, organization, or individual is qualified or entitled to arbitrarily determine that another country has committed "genocide", the spokesperson said.

Sixty-four nations, including Muslim countries, made a joint statement at the 46th session of the Human Rights Council in support of China's policies in Xinjiang, the spokesperson said, adding that the door to Xinjiang is always open.

The spokesperson stresses China's "unswerving determination to defend its national sovereignty, security and development interests". It opposes any country, any force or anyone to use Xinjiang to interfere in China's internal affairs and disrupt China's development.