Online seminar held to promote understanding of Xinjiang

An online seminar that brought together more than 100 officials from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region for exchanges with diplomats and scholars from Kazakhstan wrapped up on Friday.

The event, which was co-hosted by the regional government of Xinjiang and the Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan, aimed to provide an objective, comprehensive picture of Xinjiang to Kazakh people who care about Xinjiang's development, strengthening friendship between the people of both sides.

Nurlan Abdumanjin, chairman of the Xinjiang Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said in the keynote speech that Xinjiang enjoys social stability, with the people living and working in peace and contentment. The region has made unprecedented achievements in economic and social development and in the improvement of people's livelihood.

Chinese Ambassador to Kazakhstan Zhang Xiao said that Xinjiang's stability and prosperity matter a lot for the sound development of China-Kazakhstan relations.

Xinjiang welcomed more than 88 million domestic and foreign tourists in the first half of this year. During the three-day Corban Festival holiday in July, or Eid al-Adha, the region received about 4.74 million tourists, who brought income of 3.6 billion yuan ($557.3 million), Zhang said.

"The Belt and Road Initiative offers a historic opportunity for Xinjiang to further enhance its cooperation with Kazakhstan," he said, noting that projects such as the Khorgos-East Gate Special Economic Zone and China-Europe freight trains have strengthened ties between the two sides.

He debunked charges of "genocide", "forced sterilization", "forced labor" and other Xinjiang-related rumors and lies fabricated by anti-China forces and denounced their intention of spreading the political virus to Kazakhstan.

These rumors will never prevent people in Xinjiang from pursuing a better life, and the attempt to undermine the mutual trust and friendship between people in China and Kazakhstan will always fail, he said.